Abusing Hair Power
by bStormhands
Summary: One-shot series: What if Gothel was as bad as some of the other wicked step-mothers, and didn't care about Rapunzel at all. Gothel finds justice at the hands of the queen, and a happy ending is found for the princess, even if she can't live up to the potential she had.
1. Little Rapunzel Falls Down

Tangled - Little Rapunzel Falls Down

Warning: This is a little dark. 5 year old Rapunzel falls down the stairs and Gothel considers her options.

Mother Gothel's eyes popped open. Had she heard something or was it just a dream? Then she hear a sound that tear into to the heart of any human, the weak whimper of a child in the extremes of pain.

"Rapunzel? Rapunzel, are you okay?"

"Mama, mama" came a weak reply it was close, not upstairs.

Gothel peered into the darkness, there was moonlight but the shutters were closed, she flung back the blanket and lit a candle. She turned and her heart froze.

There at the bottom of the stairs was little 6 year old Rapunzel laying in a heap, a tangled pile of hair, limbs and nightie. One leg trailed up the stairs still wrapped in long, golden hair. Her great green eyes filled with pain and tears.

Gothel flew across the room and knelt next to her flower.

"What happened, flower?"

"Mama, I needed to go potty but I fell down. Mama, it hurts." Tears were streaming down her face.

"I know, pet. What did I tell you about going out of your room when it's dark?" Patting her head. She had to learn to obey.

"Mama, I'm hurting but I can't feel my legs."

Gothel's hand froze as it stroked Rapunzel's hair. In all her centuries of life, she had seen this happen several times. Usually they died right away, but sometimes, just sometimes they lived for months and once even years, but they just couldn't stand or walk anymore. She knew that Rapunzel's hair could heal even this, but if she didn't heal her she would never be able to leave and she would have to stay here forever.

"Mama, I heed herts?" came in a soft, slurred voice. Rapunzel's big, beautiful green eyes rolled back in her head and she began to spasm uncontrollably.

"Oh, no, flower? Pet! RAPUNZEL!" Gothel gathered Rapunzel into her arms and began to sing as fast as she could, as she raced Death himself:

"Flower, gleam and glow…"


	2. Surprises

Tangled - Surprises

Author's Note: Ah, the fun you could have with magic healing hair.

Gothel enjoyed being young very much, being able to move easily, to hear her warm throaty voice, but there was one part of being a young woman again that was annoying that the hair couldn't cure, that it caused actually, and she was suffering through the cramps with less then good grace today.

Gothel did appreciate the many little paintings that Rapunzel had made on the bathroom walls, it made the time go easier as she thought of stories that might go with them. They distracted her from the pain.

Teaching Rapunzel to read had been a risk, but she was asking so many questions and needed so many activities, she had finally taught her just to get so respite from all the talking, talking, talking.

Rapunzel had taken hold of the stories and painted little scenes everywhere. Now she was working on a mural that spanned the whole lower level of the tower.

Gothel had let Rapunzel draw on the walls, the tower wasn't really hers and so she didn't really care what Rapunzel did to it, and it kept her entertained and quiet. And they really did brighten up the place. It had been 12 years since she had taken Rapunzel and she was doing wonderful things to the tower to make it nicer. Gothel did like the paintings and used the paints as rewards and punishments to keep Rapunzel in line.

Gothel was wondering what Rapunzel would do, she had just finished up in the last area she could reach and was gazing intently around the room, as Gothel went into the bathroom, "I wonder if she'll paint over what she'd done before."

Gothel walked out of the bathroom and looked around, the painting looked done. The level of detail Rapunzel put into them was amazing, something Gothel had never seen in all her centuries of life.

But where was Rapunzel. Gothel hated it when she was out of sight, she had to protect her flower.

She heard a scratching sound above her. She looked up and her heart leaped to her throat.

Rapunzel was hanging wildly over the side of a rafter painting a flower! Wrapping her precious hair around another rafter and holding it in her other hand to keep herself from falling. She was leaning way over, intently painting a flower on the wall.

"Rapunzel, What are you doing?" Gothel shrieked.

"Eek." Rapunzel jumped, and accidentally let go of her hair. Without her holding her hair she fell straight down and bellyflopped into the floor with a dull thud. The Only sound was the hair slithering through the rafters and down, landing in a loose pile on top of its owner, covering her body completely.

Gothel let out a tiny whimper like a stepped-on mouse. "I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead," thought Gothel, "I'm dead because a foolish flower ran out of space to paint. I'm dead, dead, dead." she stood there frozen her mouth open in shock.

There was a low moan and then faintly she heard in thick, labored tones a very familiar song, "Flower, gleam and glow…" The pile of hair lit up like the sun, the voice got stronger and became normal as the incantation finished.

Rapunzel rolled over and sat up, looked up at Mother and quailed under that look.

"Please don't freak out, I'm sorry Mother, but you surprised me." young Rapunzel begged.

"I surprised you, how dare you endanger yourself that way, you were hurt, you could have died!" screeched Gothel. On the mountain behind the tower a pack of wolves began to twitch in pain.

"I'm okay, Mother, please, everything is fine, just the way it should be. Please, don't be angry. I was just trying to make you happy by 'brightening up the place'. You like my paintings don't you, Mother, please." young Rapunzel begged from the floor.

Gothel looked up from her pet's prostrate form and saw the outline of another beautiful scene emerging on the wall. She calmed somewhat. She knew she could make Rapunzel promise not to paint any more, but that wouldn't prevent her from doing something else dangerous in it's place, she'd learned that the hard way. Not that Rapunzel was trying to do dangerous things they just turned out that way sometimes. Having to release Rapunzel from a hastily made promise undermined her power over her.

Gothel sighed.

"You must learn to be more careful, pet. You are going to have to be punished."

"Yes, Mother." Said young Rapunzel who was kneeling now.

"Your window is to be locked for two days."

"Two days, Mother. I understand."

" I love you very much," lifting young Rapunzel up and giving her a hug.

"I love you more."

"I love you most."


	3. Rapunzel Feels the Power

Abuses in hair power, rapunzel feels the power

A/N: So what if Rapunzel's hair actually had prehensile power like the trailer, that was only hinted at in the movie? What if she just needed the proper motivation to access that power?

Rapunzel had fought too hard, Mother had surprised her and attacked her from behind, but she had fought and lost. She had never fought before and she didn't want to hurt Mother. Mother was under no such constraint.

Mother had not just gagged and chained her to the hearth but she had chained her ankles and brought them up and tied them to her wrists, Rapunzel was totally helpless, the cold metal biting into her skin.

When Eugene came she had some hope of being rescued and Mother had tossed out her hair and he had climbed up, while she hid.

"Rapunzel I thought I lost you."

And when he was inside she struck right to his heart. Eugene fell dead.

"No!" Rapunzel screamed through her gag.

"Our secret died with him, and we now will vanish." Mother said as she stepped over the cooling body.

This can't be happening Rapunzel screamed in her mind. I have got to get to him. I HAVE to GET to HIM. And then something new happened, her golden locks responded to her thought. She was picked up and set down next to Eugene's body.

"What is this?" said Gothel her dagger ready.

Then Rapunzel understood, all those times when she had snagged something with her hair it was obeying her but it could do more. She didn't need to grab it and fling it herself, it could do it itself. She willed it and a loop of hair removed her gag. Others snapped the chains around her wrists and ankles. She was powerful, more powerful then Mother had ever let her be. Stronger then she had ever known. Mother had sapped her of all she was for her own purposes.

Gothel was engaged by the end of her hair that was weaving and bobbing like a snake before her. Gothel didn't dare harm the hair, she needed to to live but she couldn't put down the knife. Rapunzel thought and that problem was fixed. A separate loop of hair grabbed Gothel's dagger and drove it into the wood beside the window, all the way to the hilt.

"Rapunzel there is no need to get upset."

"You keep trying to control me, to crush me. All these years you've been torturing me!" Rapunzel yelled

Loops of hair wrapped tightly around Gothel.

"Please, Rapunzel. All of this was to protect you."

"You just wanted to use me for my power!"

"Please Rapunzel, don't do this. I love you very much." Her last best ploy.

"You never loved me! I! HATE! YOU!" Rapunzel screamed with all her breaking soul. Which was the last thing Gothel ever heard as the hair tightened with a crunch.

Rapunzel collapsed in tears.

The hair gently placed Gothel's body on her bed and covered her with her blanket and then brought Eugene before her. Eventually her tears slowed and stopped, and she saw her new dream dead before her.

With everything lost, with despair beyond tears, and more to comfort herself then anything else, she sang. "Flower, gleam and glow…" as she ran her fingers over his cooling face. The power of her hair flowed down from her head and down its length, it reached Eugene. The wound glowed and healed, he began to breath and as she finished the song he opened his eyes.

"Rapunzel?"

"Eugene?"

"What happened, Goldie?"

With a cry of joy and using both hands she grabbed in by the collar and kissed him.

She broke the kiss to take a breath and Eugene asked "How did we get up here?" They were up in the rafters being upheld by her golden locks.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I was just so happy." she said in a sing-song voice as she gently lowered them to the floor. "I found out a couple of new things about my hair. I can control it with my thoughts, and it can even cure death."

"Death?"

She played with the hole in his shirt. "Eugene, Gothel killed you, she stabbed you in the heart. I was singing over your body to comfort myself and then you started breathing again. You're alive." She continued in that sing-song voice.

"Where's Gothel?"

Rapunzel looked into the nook. "I, I killed her. She killed you and I just wanted to get to you, she had me bound hand and foot I so couldn't move or anything, but I had to get to you and my hair picked me up and set me next to you. Once I understood that, I broke my chains, and confronted her, I was so angry, and I killed her." Tears were flowing down her face. She stumbled to the bed. "I could heal her now you know, bring her back. I could heal her. Apologize even. But she wouldn't love me, I don't know how to make her love me. But I guess it doesn't matter. She isn't my mother."

"What?"

Rapunzel stood up and turned around, she was backlit by the nook window, tentacles of hair looked like they were glowing again as they floated above her in the air.

"I'm the Lost Princess. My real parents are the King and Queen of Corona."

"Oh, wow. So I guess we should go let them know."

"Yes, I think that would be a good idea. I would like to stop at the Snuggly Ducking, all those thugs need a healing, especially dear HookHand." She said in a sing-song voice.

"Well, you won't find them there. Their probably all stuck in prison, they broke me out so I could rescue you. Maximus galloped all the way here."

"Well, I can fix that too." Rapunzel said in that sing-song voice that worried Eugene so much.

"Goldie, are you okay?"

"Oh yes, I've never felt stronger or more powerful. I can heal anything. Well, I don't know how to fix a mind, but maybe I just need to find a different song." She sing-songed as she picked up Eugene, Pascal and herself and lowered them out the window onto Maximus, tendril of her hair looping around the tower like a giant octopus to gently lower them. "Maximus it is so good to see you again. Oh, are your tired? Here, let me fix you." With a song and a glowing light Maximus was healed.

"I am the Lost Princess too, isn't that wonderful? Would you take us home, please. I am going to heal them. I am going to show them that I love them and they will love me more and I can show them I love them most. Yes, I will show them all." Rapunzel decided in her madness and smiled as her hair braided itself into a shape more convenient for horseback riding.

Eugene shivered and it had nothing to do with the cloud passing in front of the sun.


	4. But it wasn't the same

But it wasn't the same.

AN: I was sad today. What if the tears had no power?

Rapunzel held the body of her new dream in her lap. Eugene had saved her from her terrible promise to Mother. The terrible promise that was supposed to have saved him. She needed him. She loved him and she didn't know how to give that up. Mother's screams still echoed in her mind.

"EUGENE!"

it was a cry, a wail, a dirge, a call that would make any man claw his way out of his own grave to answer. Eugene almost did, only all the combined forces of Heaven, Earth and Hell could hold him back, and the angels and the demons wept to do it, for it would have destroyed

EVERYTHING.

Eventually, there were no more tears left for her beloved thief, and the numbness began to take her. She ever so gently put down the head of Eugene and stood, she went over to Mother's bed and took the blanket and covered his cooling body with one first, last and only kiss. Steeling herself to leave she stood up straight and took a step toward Pascal and the window sweeping her arm back for her hair so she could go down.

She stopped in surprise when her hand came back empty. She looked at her empty hand and then through her fingers she could see the limp, lifeless loops of her formerly magic hair.

Rapunzel crashed to the floor in a crumpled heap. The utter despair of having lost everything that had defined her whole life crushed her to the floor. There were tears left for this and strength enough to life herself up on her arms, throw back her head and utter a throat wrenching wail of utter grief and inconsolable loss. The tears steaming into her ears. All strength leaving her, she falls again to the hard, cold tile floor a sobbing mass of sadness.

Pascal slow limps over to her and gives her wet face a nuzzle. Through her sobs Rapunzel slowly and gently strokes her only remaining friend in the world.

{I'm sorry he's gone, I was beginning to like him.} says Pascal in animal-speech.

{I know, so am I.} replies Rapunzel.

{To live is to die, someday.}

{But did it have to be today?}

{Is there ever a good day?}

"No." Rapunzel cries out in human despair as the sobs take her again, writhing on the cold, cold floor in agony of soul.

The numbness comes for this too. Slowly the tears stop and the strength returns to her limbs, Feeling her own emotional fragility, she doesn't look at her hair or blanket by the stairs, or much of anything really. She plucks Mothers spare cloak off of the hook by the window, leaving the shoes that didn't fit and with Pascal on her shoulder, she moves to the ladder that leads into the depths of the tower and freedom and home.

Ever so carefully she moves down the ladder, counting each step and rung to distract herself from everything that is above her. A small part of her still wants to live, to find her real parents, they might love her and she could love them, but it won't be the same, will it?

She pauses coming out of the base of the tower, blinking in the bright sunshine. She didn't really know the way to the kingdom, but she was pretty sure if she could find the road to the Snuggly Duckling she'd find a way. There was love out there for her to share, wasn't there? She was going to find out.

Settling the cloak on her shoulders she moved around the tower. Maximus trotted up to her.

Rapunzel almost smiled, {Max, you're here. It's so good to see you.}

{It is good to see you again, too,} Max looked around, {Where is Eugene?}

{I'm sorry Max, He saved me, but I couldn't save him.}

{Oh. He was a good rider. I shall miss him.}

{I miss him, too.}

Rapunzel wrapper her arms around his neck and hugged him. Her sadness was beyond tears now, but his warmth was reassuring that she still lived.

Finally, she broke the embrace and then she saw it. At the base of the tower was the black cloak and the red dress, held down by a crumbling pile of dust. She took the steps toward it and fell to her knees, her limbs with just enough strength to hold her up, her arms limp at her sides. Her emotions wanted to war with each other, grief for the loss of Mother, even though she hadn't been her real mother and hate for all the years of pain, but the numbness had claimed her.

Max put his head next to hers and asked {Who was this?}

{It was Mother, but not my mother. A lie, she was the one that took me.}

{It is best to leave lies behind for truth.}

{Yes, the truth. I am the Lost Princess.}

{Truly!} Max asked happily.

{Yes.} Rapunzel replied sadly.

{Then I know where you need to ride to, and I can take you there quickly.}

{Thank you, Max. I need the ride, I have no strength. You are a good horse.}

{Come, I will take you to the stallion that sired you and the mare that foaled you and you will be happy again.}

{I hope so Max, but not yet.}

She sat there a long time, the sun moved in its appointed way across the sky. Palace guards came chasing Flynn Rider and found her there still.

The sergeant leading the group was happy to see Max, but could feel the despair coming from Rapunzel. Something terrible had happened here. Waving his men to silence he approached, carefully.

"I love you more. Good-bye, Mother. "

Rapunzel looked up at the guard, and his heart broke to see the sadness in those great, green eyes. "Hello, ma'am. Are you all right?"

"No."

"Can we help you? "

"Yes. I am the Lost Princess. This was Mother, she stole me as a baby and kept me in this tower to keep my power to herself. She was killed by Flynn Rider, who died to set me free. His body is above." Her face was a mask of sadness.

The guards were happy that Flynn Rider was dead, but they did not want to disturb this inconsolable grief they were unprepared for.

They had standing orders to bring in any claiming to be the Lost Princess at all costs. They formed a guard of honor for her and her grief.

Rapunzel passed the Test of the Lost Princess and was reunited with her parents, who listened to her story. There were tears, there was a celebration, but it wasn't the same.

The king declared Eugene Fitzherbert a Hero and they gave him a state funeral and his tomb read:

- Flynn Rider / Eugene Fitzherbert -

- Hero -

- The Lost Princess -

But it wasn't the same.

Rapunzel was a good, kind and wise princess, but it wasn't the same.

Her people and her parents loved her and she them, but it wasn't the same.

Her parents found a great-hearted man to be her consort and he loved her and in time she came to love him, but it wasn't the same.

She bore heirs and children, and she loved them, but it wasn't the same.

They forgot Flynn Rider was a thief, they forgot he was a rogue, but they always remembered he was the lost hero.

She ruled wisely and well, and she loved the people and they her, but it wasn't the same.

For her birthday she was happy and gay. But forever more the day after her birthday was a day of mourning for the price one pays for special gifts and true love and lost heroes, and they launched lanterns,

but it was never the same again.

This was the hardest story to write, physically and emotionally. I cried through most of it and my arms were weak and my fingers were shaking. Sorry, that it was full of mistakes, it's hard to edit a story when your eyes are full of tears.

I have been missing a special person in our lives.

This story came out of that grief. Tears are allowed.

Let me know if you cried, too.


	5. Gothel and the Big Hair

Author's Note: Thanks everyone for the great reviews of the "But It Wasn't The Same" chapter, it feels so good to know you care.

Now, it's time to torture Gothel some more. :)

Gothel and the Big Hair

It had been a hard, cold winter. Gothel was annoyed at those, but the hair could cure frostbite and even malnutrition, but it couldn't do anything about the hunger itself. One thing the tower was missing was a good storeroom. She had established long ago a garden and a root cellar next to it to store food, but going out of the tower was always risky when the vine curtain that kept them hidden was gone.

Fortunately the tower was easy to keep warm. At least as long as they kept the upper shutters closed. It had been so cold and they kept the fire going all the time.

30 feet of hair was nice in that you could wrap it around yourselves and stay warm, but it had been so dry this winter it was getting out of hand. They hadn't washed in months, but both of their hairs had become like dandelion fluff when ever they brushed it.

And they _had_ to brush Rapunzel's hair every day, Gothel didn't dare let it tangle again. That had happened once when Rapunzel was little and it had been so painfully hard to untangle it, it took weeks, with Rapunzel screaming the whole time. Once she had been so frustrated she actually thought of cutting out the tangle before realizing what that would have meant. Gothel had very carefully put the knife away in her drawer and then had the shakes for a few hours after.

Now her biggest worry was the fire, hair caught fire and burned too easily. Now after she brushed it, the hair would stand up on end and nearly fill the whole tower so Rapunzel had to sit away from the fire, which Gothel didn't like and neither did Rapunzel.

Gothel had learned that if you touch metal the hair would fall out of the air but fry pan was only big enough for her own hair, but for Rapunzel that had not been big enough. She didn't know why you needed a bigger piece of metal for her hair, probably because she had so much hair, but they didn't have a piece big enough.

The biggest piece of metal was on top of the tower, a large copper ball, but you couldn't reach it from the inside. Gothel was annoyed, why would anyone put a large, expensive copper ball on the outside of a 50 foot tower?

There was a lot about the tower she didn't know. It was old when she found it, carrying the baby Rapunzel, thru the forest. She had only intended to stop and rest for a moment, she had just barely escaped from being caught by the seneschal himself and a bunch of guards at the Snuggly Duckling. She had paused to sit on a rock when a breeze had moved a curtain of vines, she had followed it in, and found the tower.

She'd used the trapdoor for years until Rapunzel's hair was long enough to reach the ground. She had been very careful to keep it a secret. There wasn't any metal down there, the ladder was wood, and the stairs stone.

Wait, there was another piece of metal, there was a copper wire that ran up the backside of the tower. She had almost forgotten about that, but had been the first thing she had found after the tower its self and then the entrance. Looking around the tower to orient herself, it would pass by the window next to Rapunzel's bedroom.

Gothel had given Rapunzel the only bedroom, so there was someplace to send her when she needed to be punished. Sending her to the nook wasn't far enough away from the middle of things. Having Rapunzel bouncing on the bed asking if she could come out now, over and over again, had driven her to distraction.

Gothel had never learned how to braid hair, her own hair was too curly. She had tried braiding Rapunzel's hair once but the results were so disastrous that combing it out had been nearly as bad as the tangle.

now Gothel gathered up all of Rapunzel's hair as she brushed it, fighting it to keep it under control. Pet was doing her best to sit still, but both of their skins were feeling very strange. The hairs all over their bodies were standing up now.

Gothel knew there was a small zap when she touched the frying pan but there was no way for her to know just how much energy had been built up in the coil of hair she held. It was ballooning, and Gothel had to have Rapunzel stand across the room to try and keep it tight.

The hair didn't even want to fall to the floor anymore, and even then there were stray hairs that were standing straight up. Gothel moved up the stairs to Rapunzel's room. She opened the window, the cold, cold air prying at her skin and saw the copper wire. Of course, it was way over there, maybe just barely in reach. Wrapping the end of the hair around her hand one more time she stretched out over the dizzying height. Laying up against the side of the window she reached blindly for the wire.

ZAP!

With a scream, the golden hair fell to the floor and Gothel nearly toppled out of the window. Dragging Rapunzel forward she grabbed the edge of the window and pulled her hand back in. She closed the window with her other hand to keep the cold out. Then she examined her hand. There was a burn down the side of her fingers and her hand was shaking uncontrollably.

"Mommy, are you okay?" Rapunzel padded over in her bare feet, feeling it safe to come to Mother now that her hair was limp.

"Ow, no, I'm not." Staring at her hand. Nothing like this had ever happened to her before, the zap when she touched other metal things was small but this had been huge and she was pretty sure she hadn't touched it either.

Rapunzel gently wrapped her hair around Mother's injured hand and sang her healing song. "There, that's better isn't it?"

Gothel felt the pain ease and vanish and saw the burn glow and heal and her hand stop shaking under the healing power of her flower's hair.

"Thank you, dear. That was very nice. I love you very much."

"I love you more."

"I love you most." and Gothel gave her flower a hug and a kiss on the hair.

Author's Note: Okay, I made up that copper wire, but that copper ball is on the tower, and it has all the hallmarks of a lightning rod. A foot of hair can generate 500 volts of static electricity in dry winter conditions. 30 feet of hair could potentially produce 150,000 volts of static electricity, enough to be dangerous.

Does anyone know where the door under the stairs to Rapunzel's room leads to? Obviously, not the exit, I'm guessing a bathroom. The sideview of the tower we have, when Gothel falls, doesn't show a lot of room for much of anything.


	6. Rapunzel and the Blades of Grass

Rapunzel and the Blades of Grass

It was almost my 13th birthday and Mother was going out again. Sliding down my hair to the ground. It was long enough now for her to go up and down, which was good the rope she had been using was getting worn in places and I was beginning to worry for Mother's safety but I had to be sure to brace myself first, Mother was heavy. I watched her leave and gave her a wave just like we always did when she reached the Exit and then she was gone.

I unhooked my hair and just leaned there for a while looking at the sky, giving the cloud shapes names as my hair fluttered in the breeze, not that there was much of one today. The sky was always wonderful.

I had been so good these past weeks. There had been no punishments and Mother was happy. I was hoping that maybe she would take me to see the floating lights that would light up the sky tomorrow night. I wasn't sure if I was brave enough to ask yet. Outside was so scary from what Mother said but she was able to good Outside and safely return.

"Well, time to start on chores." I said out loud for no good reason and began to haul up my hair. Wondering if I should start with the dusting or the moping just to shake things up. And at the very end caught in my hair was something green.

I couldn't believe it.

I had gotten something from Outside all by myself.

I dropped my hair and got down on the floor to just look at it. My hair could now reach all the way down to the ground. What a wonder that was by itself but now, to have grass was amazing.

I had asked Mother about the things I could see from the window, but this is the first time I had ever seen it up close. I just lay on my stomach and looked at it for a while, how wondrous it was.

I stalked closer and slowly plucked them out of my hair.

I cupped the few grasses that I had and just looked at them. They weren't like anything else. They were like chives which Mother brought home occasionally, but chives were round and grass is flat.

I wondered if you could eat grass, but after thinking about it, probably not. We had all that grass around the tower but Mother never brought it up for cooking and eating.

I cupped the grass in my hands and brought them up to my face and breathed in. It smelled just like the color green should. It was earthy without the sharpness of that chives had. It smelled round. Which I thought odd because it was flat, I wondered if the smells had gotten mixed up somehow, chives smelled flat but were round.

Running my hand up and down a grass let me discover something new, it was smooth in one direction but rough in the other.

Looking at it in the light I could see that there was something on the surface of the grass but I could not see well enough to tell exactly what it was. I wondered if it was like grass. From my tower I always thought that grass of like the fabric of my dress, because it flowed in the wind like my dress did. Could there be a person in a tower on this grass looking at yet more grass?

I gave a shake at where that thought could go. I might explore it later, but first chores. I stuffed the grass into my pocket and quickly did my chores, being especially careful to brush my hair all clean again. Mother did not approve of dirty hair and I needed to be extra careful so the window wouldn't be locked and I could see the floating lights.

"Rapunzel, let down your hair."

"Coming, Mother."

I throw my hair out the window and get a good grip on the post beside the window as Mother climbs up. I keep a grip on my hair too, Mother is nice enough not to jerk on it, that hurts, a lot.

She climbs in the window and lets go of my hair. I reel it in as she cries, "I got you a surprise, colored chalks for your birthday. Happy Birthday." She produces a box, which I open, it has a dozen thick colored rods of a lightweight material. This is something new. I rub my finger on a green one and some of it gets on my finger.

"Thank you, Mother. This is interesting."

"I know you are running out of space on the walls. I don't want you painting on the floor, but you can use chalk on the floor and it will clean up when you mop the floor."

"Oh, okay." I say happily, there are some possibilities in this chalk. It won't be permanent like my murals but it would be great to try out ideas that I am working on.

I flounce over and give her a hug and our little ritual of love begins.

"I love you, very much."

"I love you more."

"I love you most."

I experiment with the chalk. It isn't very good at detail work, but I can cover a large area very quickly. It doesn't mix like paint does so I can't change the colors I have. It also uses up fast. I don't know if Mother will get more soon, so I try not to like it too much. So I have to be careful, and not use too much all at once. There is never enough yellow to do a really good job on my hair.

I have an idea but I need Mother to be gone. She mustn't know about the grass. I've hidden it on the highest beam, where she can never get to. It will be safe there. But she needs to be gone so I can get it.

I watch the floating lights in the sky. How different they are from the stars. The stars move in certain predictable paths for the most part. There are streaks often that are like stars sliding across the sky, but they are fast. the floating lights are something else. How I yearn to know what they are? They feel important for some reason, but I don't know why. But Mother won't talk about them. I wonder why, but I learned long ago not to ask certain kinds of questions.

Mother's gone for food, finally. I know exactly what I want to do with the chalk. I will use up almost all of the green and I am hoping it will be worth it.

I go up to my room and open the window, I move my bed over some so I have a clear spot where I can look up and see the sky.

I scribble a big green patch on the floor and color on some flowers.

Then I sit on it looking up through my windows up into the sky.

I take the handful of grass from out of my pocket, they are turning brown around the edges and rub it around my toes and along my feet and ankles, it tickles a little. Between my fingers and around my arms. Along my lips, cheeks and ears. I cup them to my nose and breathe in really deep.

I lay back and throw out my arms and try with all my mind to save up all that sensation and bring it together all at once.

With all my heart I hope.

With all my strength I imagine.

With all my might I dream.

What laying on grass might really be like.

A/N:There is a picture over on DeviantArt Waiting and Wondering by ecila20 that I wrote this latest chapter for. Deeply moving at least for me. Trying to imagine a grassly field to lay on is hard, try it.


	7. Little Rapunzel and the Big Thunderstorm

Little Rapunzel and the Big Thunderstorm

KRAKBOOM!

5 years old Rapunzel was slithering down the stairs from her room, in her little pink nightie, as fast as she could. She couldn't see them, the flash of lightning still overwhelmed her vision. She couldn't hear the rustle of her dragging hair, the peal of thunder still echoed in her ears.

She knew exactly where mommy slept and she didn't need those senses to find her, but mommy wasn't there.

Gothel had thrown herself from her bed in the window nook when the lightning had struck the tower itself. Gothel hadn't planned on ending up somewhere in the middle of the floor in her bedclothes, but it seemed like a good idea at the time when she was asleep.

"Rapunzel! Rapunzel!" Gothel shouted, but her ears rang so much she didn't know if she could hear a reply if there was one.

Gothel was worried about Rapunzel. Thunderstorms were bad enough in the forest. In the canyon of the tower they were terrifying. The light reflected off of the rock walls and the thunder echoed forever.

She was blinking her eyes to try to clear the streak of light that had overwhelmed her vision. Gothel had been asleep before the lightning had struck but now she was as wide awake as was humanly possible.

Gothel needed to find Rapunzel, but on her knees in the middle of the floor she was lost, she couldn't see and didn't know where the stairs were.

"Mommy?" wait was the Rapunzel? It sounded so faint or was it only because her ears rung so loudly. Gothel swung her head around trying to see or hear anything. "Rapunzel!"

Flash!Bang! another strike of lightning on the edge of the canyon this time.

Gothel saw she had nearly backed herself into the kitchen. There was a ribbon of hair from the stairs to her bed. "Rapunzel!" Scrambling on all fours she found the end of the golden hair and followed it toward her bed.

Just as she reached the quivering mass of tears that was Rapunzel, there was another strike on the tower.

KRAKADOOM!

For an instant Gothel could see every detail of the canyon etched in stark contrast on her retinas. Rapunzel threw her arms around Gothel's neck and held on with all her strength.

FlaBang!, another lightning strike.

Gothel pushed off of her bed and scrambled to the middle of the floor, one arm around Rapunzel's shaking body. "It's got to be safer here, doesn't it?" she thought.

A roar began to overlay their ears as the rain and hail came, that just added to the terror of the continuous lightning and thunder. Gothel could feel Rapunzel's tears soaking through her nightshirt and her quivering body as she sobbed, but she couldn't hear them, nature commanded their attention completely.

It was getting cold in the tower. The ice of the hail was sucking the heat out of the air. She didn't dare go near the fierce light of the window for a blanket and lighting a fire would be impossible with Rapunzel clinging to her with all her strength.

Gothel's eyes filled with tears. She had never been more afraid in her life. This was the worst thunderstorm ever. Would it never end?

She got on her knees and repositioned herself so she could hold Rapunzel with both arms. And began to stroke and comfort the weeping child and herself.

"The hair!" Gothel realized. They had about 20 feet of hair to wrap themselves with. She quickly wrapped the hair around them, and it was a little warmer. Then she began to sing a desperate lullaby.

"Flower, gleam and glow, let your power shine…" and as she sang a warm golden light filled the darkened tower and held back the terror of the terrible storm. And so they spent the night in the middle of the floor, singing to hold back the terror until the storm broke and the warm sun returned.


	8. 18 Minutes

- 18 Minutes -

zzzZZZzzz

9 year old Rapunzel makes a mistake that spirals out of control.

zzzZZZzzz

It had been raining for three whole weeks, a steady dripping hazy drizzle that just took the joy and happiness out of everything. Even with the upper shutters open it was still very dark in the tower and Rapunzel was sleeping later and taking naps, but she still had no extra energy. Not even painting with bright colors helped, not that she could anymore, she had used up all of them and Mother couldn't go out in the rain for more.

And it was cold, it was supposed to be spring but it felt like the whole world was crying all the time, and Rapunzel did too. Rapunzel was 9 years old and moping around the tower. Nothing was fun anymore. Crying was the only thing left she felt like doing.

Gothel was so tired of the rain. It just seemed to never stop and clear up. Sure, it rained a lot in the spring, but this was getting ridiculous. She would almost welcome a thunderstorm just so all the rain would dump at once, but she still had nightmares about the one from a few years ago. It had sat over the tower for hours, lighting licking the bowl of the canyon and striking the tower, and the thunder echoing and echoing. They had huddled in the middle of the tower most of the night, wrapped in Rapunzel's hair, rocking back and forth and singing the incantation to comfort each other, the light of her hair barely holding back the terror.

Gothel was beginning to worry about Rapunzel, she was moping around the tower so much, nothing brought her joy any more. Oddly, she missed the bright sunshiny girl that drove her crazy, bouncing all over the tower.

Today she was going to try something different, and have Rapunzel help make a fresh batch of vegetable stew. She hoped it would dry out soon, they were running low on food, this would use the last of the carrots and the dried parsley. She had gone out near the end of the first week, she had made it to the food forest she had set up years ago when she first found the tower, but the mud was so bad that after gathering a few parsnips and rutabagas she had to return home because it was taking so long to dig them out and it was getting dark.

Climbing Rapunzel's hair had taken forever, she was soaked through and the hair was a little slippery. It had taken days to get all the mud off of her boots. They had also had to wash Rapunzel's hair, she had gotten mud all over it climbing up. It still wasn't completely dry.

Gothel wasn't worried about starving, the flower had saved her from that more then once, but the hunger pangs weren't something the magic could do anything about. Eating grass and mud cakes helped, but wasn't fun.

Gothel was hoping that Rapunzel helping in the kitchen would help make her happier. She didn't want her to get too depressed, she'd seen people who had killed themselves after a couple of weeks of rain. Doing stupid things like jumping off of the top of barns, or even cutting their wrists. They kept the main window closed so as to not let the rain in, but it made it a lot darker in the tower.

"Come along Rapunzel, let's make some vegetable stew. Would you help me?" She said with a smile. Her own mother had taught her how to cook, all she could remember of her was the smell of the vegetable stew they were going to make.

"Yes, Mother." Rapunzel moped back and shuffled across the floor from her green chair by the fire, her 35 feet of wet sunshine blonde hair slithering as it dragged on the floor.

They gathered the ingredients from the cubbies and jars around the kitchen. Gothel filled the pot from the kitchen cistern and heaved it onto the hot stove. She moved to the table and asked "I forgot the knife would you get it for me?" while organizing the ingredients in the order she wished to prepare them.

Rapunzel could see the kitchen knife on the shelf and feeling lazy, gathered a loop of hair and grabbed the knife with it.

Only after she had yanked on it did she think about what would happen next.

The hair and knife came flying toward her, the heavy handle and hair started it to rotate, she could see the bright sharp edge of the knife and pointy tip turning toward her.

Mother was still facing the table and didn't know it was coming, Rapunzel could duck, but Mother was right behind her. Mother would be hurt. Rapunzel threw up her arms to try and catch the knife to save Mother, but she closed her eyes.

She could feel a pinch and a pressure in her arm. She opened her eyes and saw the tip of the knife right in front of her nose. Beyond the belly of the knife was her left arm and beyond her arm was the handle of the knife. Her hair fell off of the knife and she lowered her arms, turning her arm she could see it went through her arm, between the bones.

Rapunzel was surprised, it didn't hurt all that much, but she was beginning to feel strange. Grabbing the handle of the knife with her right hand she turned and said, "Mommy" in a weak voice.

"What is taking so long, pet?" Gothel said as she turned.

A look of profound shock and horror appeared on her face. It looked like Rapunzel, her precious flower, had plunged the knife into her own arm. "Oh, no, I was too late. The rain has gotten to her and she is trying to kill herself." Gothel thought to herself.

Acting quickly, she gripped the arm tightly, pulled the knife out, wrapped a loop of magic hair around the injured arm as blood poured out and quickly sang the healing incantation. Rapunzel's eyes were rolling back in her head, but in seconds the wound glowed, closed and healed.

The thought of Rapunzel killing herself terrified Gothel, there was no way to test if the hair would still work if Rapunzel died, if Rapunzel died then she would die, that was beyond terrifying and that was intolerable. She had to do something to keep this from ever happening again. She remembered the beatings she got from her father, oh so long ago, she couldn't remember his face, but she remembered the beatings, those had been effective.

Drawing herself up to her full height she towered over her precious pet.

"Rapunzel, you hurt yourself and that is very bad. I will not tolerate that. You must be punished."

"Yes, mother." Rapunzel said through lowered eyes.

She thought she was used to being punished. Mother would lock the window or make her clean the bathroom extra carefully or not use her paints or something like that. But Mother was being very scary. Not like normal. She hadn't done it on purpose. She had tried to save Mother.

Rapunzel opened her mouth to explain, but Gothel cut her off. "Go over to your chair and lean over the arms. I will give you 100 lashes and you will say 'I will not hurt myself' after each one and don't forget to count. When we are done you will wait to ask permission to heal yourself after you have sat for 9 minutes, which is as old as you are."

"But mother…"

"Now!" Gothel roared.

Mother was so very angry, and Rapunzel wasn't sure why, but she was so scared now and did as she was told.

Gothel got a leather belt from her closet, flipped up Rapunzel's skirt, stepped back and struck.

Rapunzel screamed, but said "I will not hurt myself, one" as she had been told.

Over and over this went on, one hundred times. Before the end Rapunzel began to bleed, but Gothel did not stop until they reached that terrible final number.

"Now sit quietly until 9 minutes pass."

Rapunzel was in incredible pain, Mother had never done anything like this to her before and she was terrified of her now. She desperately wiped her eyes so she could see the clock, her bottom was on fire, she strove to sit still but it was impossible. She wanted to sob, but stifled them as best she could, she wanted to heal herself, but waited, in fear, as commanded.

When the time was up, she quickly sang the healing song.

"Disobedient child!" Gothel roared, jumping out of her red chair. "I told you to ask permission first."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it hurt so much. Mother, please." Rapunzel pleaded.

"You did this to yourself. Now you have to start over and your back must be lashed as well, to make sure you remember." Gothel yelled.

"No, mommy, please." Rapunzel begged, falling to the floor, catching the hem of Mother's dress in her hands.

"Stop making it worse! Now your feet and hands have to be lashed as well!" Gothel screeched.

Rapunzel could only gape at this point. This was out of control. Tears were streaming down her face, why was this happening? She had tried to protect Mother. Shaking all over she crawled to her chair, knelt across it and closed her eyes. She could hear the belt whipping through the air.

Slap.

Scream.

"I will not hurt myself, one." Each word a plea.

Sob.

Splot.

"I will not hurt myself, four hundred." Rapunzel finished numbly.

Rapunzel was beyond pain and tears, she was in the numbness place, nothing could touch her here. She could see the bloody stripes on the palms of her shaking hands, oddly noting that not all of the blood on her hands had come from her hands. Panting, she stood on her damaged feet, supporting herself with her elbows as her knees so weak, and felt that pain was the fire that was all that was all the feeling left to her feet, she sat on her oozing bottom, her own sweat stung her torn back, she vaguely remembered to not sit back.

Rapunzel looked carefully at the clock.

From far, far away she heard Mother say, "You must wait 18 minutes before _asking_ to heal yourself," as her blood roared in her ears.

Rapunzel nodded carefully. The pain lived just outside her skin, she move carefully so as not to touch it.

The pendulum swung, oh, so slowly back and forth. Each second an age. Each minute an eon.

Finally, after the age of the universe passed, the 18 minutes passed.

Rapunzel moved her shaking head so carefully, to look at Mother's feet, who was sitting in her red chair, not far away, watching her carefully. "Please, Mother, may I, please, heal myself, please, please.", she begged weakly.

Gothel tilted her head, considering, and said, "Yes, you may," with a wave of her hand.

"Thank you. Mother. Flower, gleam and glow…"

Rapunzel had sat on her hair, she could not move it before sitting. She screamed as all that pain suddenly vanished and slumped in her chair.

Gothel ran over and caught Rapunzel up in a hug, "Oh Rapunzel, I'm so proud of you. You did so well. You're such a good girl. I love you so very much."

"I love your more." said Rapunzel as she put her arms around Mother.

"I love you most." And Gothel kissed her on the top of her head.

A accident turns into hell for Rapunzel. The worst part of this is that it is all a misunderstanding. A mistake that spiraled out of control.

I knew she was probably physically abused at some point, but this was beyond anything I have ever encountered. Then having magic, healing hair makes the whole spanking problem more complex. What good is inflicting pain if it can be healed away immediately? Gothel putting the delay for asking permission in, is vile, but sadly it makes sense.

I'm just glad this only happened once.

I've only spanked my own child a few times, with my hand, but gave up because it didn't do any good for either of us. I was only slapped once by my mom. I know that people are treated much worse, just read the news any day of the week, but I really like Rapunzel.

And manipulative psycho Gothel witch has me thinking now that the Queen's final solution for Gothel wasn't enough. About the only good thing I know, the hard way, is that you usually do become numb to extreme pain, it's a survival mechanism, otherwise known as going into shock.

Your thoughts?

Do the unsound effects work?


	9. I only bathed and changed and nursed you

Gothel Nurses Baby Rapunzel

"Me, I'm just your mother, what do I know?

I only bathed and changed and nursed you."

-Mother Knows Best

* * *

"Come on, please. Please, come in." Gothel was talking to her breasts. Pleading for milk to come in to feed the baby. The baby was crying so much, lung-emptying wails. Gothel knew the baby was hungry. Tears dripped down, tears of pain and frustration.

The flower had saved her from starvation during times of famine. She had eaten grass and mud to stave off the hunger pangs that had threatened to debilitate her. She knew exactly what the baby was going through, they was so painful.

She had never had a baby of her own, but the cries tore at her heart, and she cried all the time, hardly ever sleeping.

She had stolen a goat to provide milk, but she dared not do that again. The kingdom was swarming with people searching for blonde babies. She had had an encounter at the nearby pub with a search party, that had been far too close for comfort. She'd do anything to keep the baby but escaping a dozen guards would have been … hard.

But that stupid goat _died_. How could it have died? They eat anything and can climb anywhere. The ground around the tower was full of good grass. There was even a tasty patch of radishes in one corner of the canyon.

Gothel did admit to herself that she wasn't really all that good at managing animals. Plants, on the other hand, she did well with. The forest was filled with food, if you knew where and when to look. The tower was a good place to hide, but the canyon couldn't provide much food, too much shade and too small, though that patch of rapunzel was the best tasting she had ever found.

She was glad that there was something. She couldn't leave the baby, and the baby screamed all the time so they couldn't leave the tower to search for more food.

For two weeks she'd been trying to give the baby suck. Something should have happened by now. The first time she opened her dress for the baby it had been embarrassing for some reason, now undoing the buttons filled her with dread.

If she could just get the baby fed and quiet she could start searching the forest for edibles and then transplant them closer to the tower. She would have a food forest in just a few months if she was diligent.

"Ughnn," Gothel panted, the baby was sucking so hard, trying desperately to get some suck to eat. "By the Light, this baby can suck." she thought to herself. At least the baby hasn't given up and neither would she. She had seen babes die, so many times. This one _had_ to live.

Using her pinky, Gothel popped the baby off of one breast, and while she screamed her lungs empty, Gothel turned her to the other breast. Steeling herself she let the baby latch on, gasping in pain as she did so, trying not to flinch or scream, like she so desperately wanted to.

Gothel was pretty sure that if you let a baby suck enough, the milk would come in, but she didn't think it would take this long, or be so painful. While she had sung the incantation every day to keep the baby healthy and alive, while they waited for the milk to come, but the flower couldn't fix something that wasn't broken. She had sung after trying for hours get milk, after the baby had gone to sleep from exhaustion, to heal her sore breasts.

They hurt so much!

Sobbing in frustration and pain Gothel finally threw her head back and screamed, "For the Light! Flower, gleam and glow, let your power shine…" just to try and relieve the pain.

The hair glowed, the pain subsided and wonder of wonders, her breasts filled with sweet, warm milk.

Weeping in relief, Gothel said, "thank you, thank you, thank you." The baby suckled, was fed and saved. And finally slept quietly for the night.

ZZZZZ

Gothel is not irredeemably evil. Not when she put up with this for two weeks. Is she?

Did you feel Gothel's frustration?

If I had put this as a flashback just before the Queen finds out in "Rapunzel goes Home" would it have changed how you feel about the Queens desire to drink Gothel's blood?


	10. Popping

Popping

…

Warning very fluffy.

#Author's Note: So Disney says Rapunzel's brown hair won't grow, eh? Well, let's just see about that. That means she still has some magic in her. There's some fun to be had in that. Don't you think?

…

Finally, after all this time and waiting. Trying to rebuild Rapunzel's family and reform himself, Eugene was ready. Well, sorta, ready. Were you ever ready when something so totally life changing like this came up?

They were on the plaza balcony looking out over the harbor, the sun was setting on one side of them the nearly full moon on the other. It wasn't going to get any better then this.

Eugene got down on one knee, took Rapunzel's hand and placed in it a small velvet box and asked. "Rapunzel, will you marry me?"

Rapunzel burst into tears. He expected that. It was still disconcerting, but it was expected.

What came next, not so much.

"I don't know." Rapunzel wailed and ran away.

After kneeling there for a minute in dumbfounded amazement, the King came out and gave him a hand up. "I take it that was a no."

"Actually, she said, I don't know. Which doesn't exactly help." said Eugene in confusion.

"Well, you better go chase her down. Women like that. She'll probably explain. It looks like she went to her room. I'll have to comfort the Queen, she was so hoping this would go well."

Eugene slowly walked to Rapunzel's room and knocked. "It's me, Eugene."

"Come in."

Rapunzel was on her bed, which was flanked by life-sized paintings of her parents on one side and himself on the other. Which he still found odd, not that she hadn't done a good job, it captured him perfectly, it was just odd to see a life-sized version of himself not in a mirror.

Sitting on the bed and putting a comforting hand on her back and asked casually, "So did we find another snake?"

The queen had coined a term for the family, snakes in the grass of Rapunzel's soul. As a way to talk about all those emotional traps Gothel seemed to have strewn in Rapunzel's heart and mind. It put a name on it, and somehow it was a bit easier.

With lots of love and understanding and talking they had spent a lot of time helping Rapunzel deal with them. They considered themselves very lucky. They all hurt in different ways, but they didn't seem to find too many all at once, and they have been finding fewer over time.

It was one of the reasons it had taken so long to ask her to marry him.

"No. At least not in the usual way." She got up and turned toward him. "What do you see?"

Wow, That had been a rough snake. She had told them what Gothel had done to that phrase, but he knew what he saw. "I see my new dream, the woman I want to spend forever with." and she smiled a little.

"More specifically, my hair."

"Um, it's brown and short." Not sure were she was going.

"And the same length as the day when you cut it in the tower." He could see the emotions play in those huge green eyes: fear, happiness, sadness, love, a dozen more moving so fast, but the fear was always there.

"Yes, yes, it is. We talked about this before. We just don't know why and there is nothing we can do about it. We just have to keep living our lives and deal with whatever comes, when it gets here. We can't fear the future so much we forget to live now." He quoted her mother and father.

"I know," she said, looking down and biting her lip, "and I want marry you and have children, but I. am. so. scared. What if whatever magic is still in me manifests in our children?"

"Then we will deal with it then, when it actually shows up. You have loving, supportive parents, a kingdom that loves you and would defend you and your children to the last, and me." he added in an offhand way. He was so glad he didn't have to worry about droplets of magic sunshine floating about in his body like she did.

"I know, I know, but it's still scary." And snuggled into him as he put his arm around her protectively.

"It's alright. You're allowed to be scared, but you are not allowed to dodge the question."

Rapunzel frowned, her eyes scanning back and forth as she reviewed the last few minutes trying to remember what question he was talking about, but came up empty.

She looked up at him. "What question?"

Eugene gave her a look and then down at her hands which still held the little black velvet box.

Rapunzel followed his eyes and opened the box. It was a not too big, but finely wrought engagement ring. A diamond flanked by two emeralds, that went with her eyes.

"Wow, it's beautiful." then she blinked, "Oh, _that_ question. Well, let me tell you the answer to that question…"

Next door in the royal apartment, the queen is leaning against her husband's chest, she had stopped crying not too long before and he had his arm around her, keeping her close. She just honestly wanted her daughter to be happy even for just a little while. They had worked through so much pain together. Dealing with so many snakes that Gothel had left behind. Had they stepped on another snake? Were they everywhere?

If, when! they get married she would be spending the wedding night in the palace chapel, praying they don't find any snakes in the wedding bed. She thought determinedly.

Then they heard a loud whoop from the princess' quarters, next door.

"I'd say the answer is yes," grinned the king and gave his queen a kiss.

…

And then there was much planning.

Oh, was there planning and meetings and decisions. Eugene knew that women loved weddings, but a royal wedding was absolutely insane. Eugene was wondering why _anyone_ would care about the color of the ribbon on the flowergirl's baskets?

Rapunzel had insisted on the Little Braid Girls, as he called them, to be her flower girls, he was even getting good enough to know when to cover his ears before the squealing started.

Pascal was hanging out with him more too, you know it's bad when the frog thinks the squealing was getting to be a bit much.

The Princess Aurora came to be the Maid of Honor, which was hardly a surprise, they were just like sisters.

…

One of the biggest things he had worked on was building trust with Rapunzel. He knew she felt keenly the betrayal Gothel had done to her and his own apparent, but unwilling betrayal, still had some residual effects.

He had betrayed a lot of women and that made him feel guilty, there was no way to restore what he had taken. Flynn Rider didn't think it was stealing if it was freely given, but Eugene Fitzherbert knew better, the smolder was powerful stuff. He would do right by Rapunzel!

He asked the King and Queen to have the talk with her about what was going to happen to her on the wedding night. Well, probably not on their wedding night, after all the parties and people, she'd probably fall asleep earlier rather then later. The queen had given him such a rib-cracking hug and the king a pat on the back that he had felt humbled.

On the morning of the wedding the Queen had called him into her sewing room and had given him a talking to that had blown him away, he had thought he was a man of the world, but the queen's advice was frighteningly frank, and revealed something he did not know about Rapunzel.

Eugene found Rapunzel's innocence so compelling and violating it, no! not violating, they were consummating, consummating. Remember that! They were going to be married and it was okay then.

…

When Eugene, in his official Prince Consort uniform, saw the Princess Rapunzel come down the aisle in her fabulous wedding gown with thread of gold in the veil it was like having the old Blondie back.

Not that he didn't love Goldie of the heart of gold. He didn't care about the flowers or the ribbons or anything else just that he was pledging his life to the most wonderful and beautiful girl in the world.

…

Carrying his sleeping wife, yup, she had fallen asleep, in to the "honeymoon cottage" an old isolated manor house on the mainland that they could "get to know each other" in. And laid her in their bed to rest up. They had plenty of time now. Boy, that dress was heavy and he wasn't exactly sure how to get it off without waking her up. Besides she would need her rest for what he had planned.

The next day, knowing that the royal parents were praying for them that they wouldn't find any snakes here. He set to work, seducing his wife.

They went exploring around the grounds first. Just to get comfortable with the new surroundings, and so Rapunzel could satisfy her seeing-new-things curiosity out of the way. He was thinking that to set the mood they might want to play spin the bottle and other kissing games, something light and fun so she wouldn't get scared by all the new things that would be happening to each other.

They were passing by a small meadow that had a large boulder in the center, when Rapunzel said. "Oh, this would be the prefect place to play Capture the Unicorn."

Eugene hadn't heard of that one before. He didn't think there were any unicorns in the area, he did remember that you would use an innocent girl as a lure somehow, but wasn't sure about the specifics. Wondering if it was something like Capture the Flag or something, but with only the two of them it wouldn't be much fun.

Then again she came up with some of the most amazing games, her variations on chess were formidable.

"So how do you go about capturing a unicorn?" he asked.

"Oh, you stand by a tree, this one looks pretty and hold onto it. You stay here. And I go out to the rock."

He held onto the And she left him by the tree and she walked out to the rock her bare feet peeking out from under the hem of her dress. And then she started to dance.

Eugene loved to dance with her, but it was even more fun just to watch her dance. She danced with an innocence and freedom that was just amazing. It was just her and the music in her head and it was beautiful and shiny and where did her shirt go?

His jaw dropped open as the rest of her clothes soon ended up strewn about the meadow. He found it hard to think as she enthusiastically danced around the meadow.

"Who could have taught her this? The PubThugs, they'd tell her some innocent story and she'd …. I'll Kill…" His train of thought derailed and exploded as Rapunzel cartwheeled past him.

Eventually, she sat down on the rock, skin glistening, chest heaving and lip pouting.

After prying his fingers off of the tree, Eugene hobbled over, sweating for completely different reasons.

"I don't understand, I danced as hard as I could and there are no unicorns." Rapunzel said sounding very disappointed.

"Um, who taught you this "game"?" Eugene tried to say neutrally, but it just came out painfully,

"Mama, She told me it was a favorite of her's and papa's for their honeymoon. I don't get why it didn't work."

"Mama taught you this." he said slowly. Eugene suddenly found it a lot easier to walk.

After her "little" talk with him which had surprised him at how direct and frank it was, he would have thought Rapunzel's talk would have cleared things up. But this was Rapunzel and she tended to interrelate things that didn't really go together and come up with amazingly different conclusions. He tried to put things together in his head the way he thought his bride might and decided to do something completely different.

"Here, let's go back to the manor, I think I have to clear up some details that may have gotten mixed up." He started picking up her clothes.

"I did it wrong again, didn't I?" Rapunzel looked all disappointed, she tried so hard to do things right, but she always got some detail wrong that messed it all up.

He stopped, picked her up by the shoulders and made her look into his eyes. "Actually, no. You did it just right. It was me that was the problem."

"You?" she asked confused.

"Yes, I wasn't expecting something, anything like this from you, just now. But let's head in before you get a sunburn. Then I'll tell you, no, show you what I mean. It'll make a lot more sense then. Trust me. Then we can try playing again, it looks like fun." He finished with a smile.

And they went back to the manor, holding her in the crook of his arm. He explained what he was going to do to and with her and what she should expect from him and herself as they snuggled on the sofa in front of the fire.

And then Eugene seduced his beloved wife Rapunzel, slowly and carefully. Oh, there were some missteps, giggles and forgiveness, but in the end their love which he thought was burning intensely before, blazed like a bonfire compared to a candle.

He held her close as the power of their togetherness overwhelmed her and she calmed down. And he finally, finally relaxed, there were no snakes here, just love. The queen's advice had come in handy.

The honeymoon was the best time of their lives.

And now the smolder finally worked on her. Oh boy, did it work. He knew that it made girls weak in the knees, but he was glad he had been holding Rapunzel in his arms when he tried it on her this time, her knees gave way completely; he caught her before she hit the floor.

The look on her face said it all. He swung her into his arms and gave her the ravishment she so thoroughly deserved.

And they played Capture the Unicorn and she was a vey good Lure now that they both knew the rules of the game.

He had arranged for a room to be made into a library, since she liked books so much. He remembered how weak in the knees she had gotten in the library the first time, she still did. They spent a fair amount of time in the library, but didn't do much reading.

After two weeks that bonfire was a full fledge forest fire. The emotional intensity of their love was beginning to scare him a little. He knew she threw herself totally into things, this was no exception, but his own reactions were far more intense then ever before. After 2 years he thought he knew her deeply, but now... even Flynn Rider in the back of his mind was in awe.

And he wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

And the best thing was Rapunzel's nightmares seemed to be gone. They actually slept in past dawn for the first time in years. That was the best wedding present of all, where ever it came from.

…

He was lounging lazily around one afternoon on a sofa in a white shirt and dark pants, his shoes in the corner, watching Rapunzel sketch something in her notebook in the drawing room, "Well, where else should I draw?"

After a while she got up and walked into the bathroom which was across the hall. His eyes drank in her movements as she walked barefoot across the dark wood floor in a thin, pale pink sun dress, the hem swishing back and forth provocatively.

After a short time he heard Rapunzel sneeze, in that cute little way she does and he smiled, it was just so cute, then she went, "Eek." which caused him to sit up, was it a mouse or something?

"Eugene, Eugene!" He strode to the door, she sounded concerned, but not panicked. What was going on?

"Coming." he called.

As he crossed the hall, she called again "Ah, Help!"

Eugene dove for the door, concerned about what might be happening to his precious Goldie.

Ripping the door open, yards and yards of golden hair spilled out of the bathroom. And it was still growing. The glowing, growing end passed between his legs and grew down the hall as he twisted around to watch it.

It finally stopped after growing nearly 80ft, which is how long her hair was supposed to be after all this time.

Eugene, his mouth hanging open, turned back to Rapunzel who was still standing in the bathroom, arms full of blonde hair, her massive green eyes the biggest he'd every seen.

He'd tried to be ready for all kinds of possible problems, but this was not one of them, why did that keep happening anyway?

"What? Why? How?" He gestured vaguely.

"I-I dont't know." Rapunzel said uncertainly. She climbed out of the bathroom. "I was washing my hands, when I sneezed. And then it changed color and it just started glowing and growing."

She got a look on her face, dropped her hair and ran off to her-their bedroom.

Oh, the sound of her hair rustling behind her, how she had missed even that. The tugging of it as she rounded corners. But she wanted something else, something more important, something she couldn't see in the tiny mirror of the bathroom.

Running into the bedroom she closed her eyes and stepped in front of the big stand mirror. She fanned her hair behind her, opened her eyes and looked.

She was herself, her old self, with her distinctive cape of blonde hair.

Breathing fast and hard and with a shaking hand she reached behind her and felt it. She brought her hand forward and there it was, her hair in her hand. It really was there. It wasn't a dream or a nightmare. She cradled it for a moment, and ran it along her cheek. Then seeing the handle on the balcony door she whipped out her hand and grabbed the handle and opened the door.

Eugene came into the room, stepping carefully over the hair.

Rapunzel dashes over to him and pulls up the sleeve of his shirt exposing a ragged scar from a training accident with the Palace Guard. Quickly wrapping a loop of hair around his arm she looks him in the eye with pleading eyes and a finger to his lips, closes her eyes and begins to sing in a shaky voice. "Flower, gleam and glow, let your power shine…"

Even with her eyes closed, she could see the intense glow of the hair through her lids.

She finished the song and slowly opened her eyes, hanging onto hope with everything she had. She removed her hair from around her true love's, true lover's, arm and it was smooth and healed.

She looks up at Eugene, wanting, trying to express the wild oscillations of emotions coursing through her soul. Elation for getting her hair back, and deeply instilled fear of people wanting to cut her hair, and love for whatever power made this miracle happen, and concern because who she is has changed again and she'll have to rebuild herself all over again, and joy that she'll finally be able to heal Hookhand and the children and all the others, and, and, and …

"What _are_ you looking at?" Rapunzel asks Eugene, Eugene had a shocked look on his face and was looking down. What's he doing that for?

His head snaps up, she could see emotions running rampant in his eyes.

"You were glowing."

"Well, yeah, my hair glows when I sing. I know that, and I know you know that."

"No, _You_ were glowing. Here." He kneels before her and holds her tummy in both hands.

Her hands cover herself protectively. "I-I must be pregnant. You must still have had a drop of magic in you from when I cried on you and brought you back and I had some in me and they combined and I'm pregnant, and the baby glows, that means she'll have the power too and that means…." Rapunzel's great green eyes roll back in her head and she collapses on Eugene, who catches her and carries her carefully back to bed. Trying not to trip on all the hair.

Eugene had tried to prepare for so many things on their honeymoon, he had even made a list, it filled a small book. Having magic, glowing hair reappear had not been on the list.

"I guess it must be time for a new adventure." He said to himself as he put his arm around his beloved unconscious wife. They were a family now and he wasn't going to let anything happen to her…them, he smiled and neither would the King and Queen, or even the people of the kingdom.

I was thinking about a way for Rapunzel to get her hair back. If her hair wasn't growing a droplet of sunshine must be in her somewhere and Eugene certainly had a little left, they just needed to get them in the same place. Besides a little, okay, a lot, of fluff makes for a nice change of pace.

Some of my writing has been a little on the heavy side lately.


	11. The Mirror That Didn't Break

Abusing Hair Power - Tangled Alternate - The Mirror That Didn't Break

"And I will NEVER let you use my hair again." delivers Rapunzel as an ultimatum.

Gothel wrenches herself free from the suddenly strong arm of her flower.

Catching herself on the stand mirror.

Rapunzel turned her back on Mother. She had meant it, she would _never_ let her use her hair again. Mother had lied to her, betrayed her and had sent Eugene to die.

"You want me to be the bad guy? Fine, now I'm the bad guy." says Gothel quietly her eyes scanning the room quickly.

Rapunzel swept back her hand to gather her hair to take her away from the tower forever. Maybe there was a way to save him if she went back to the kingdom.

There was a flash of light, followed by darkness as Gothel knocks Rapunzel out with the frying pan.

...

Rapunzel comes to, laying on her side in front of the bathroom. Her head aches. Quickly she sings the healing incantation, healing herself as she has done so many times before.

Her hands are chained behind her. Looking around she sees Mother is throwing things into a pack. Preparing to leave.

"Mother, what are you doing?" scared of what the answer might be.

"Oh, good you're awake. We are leaving. We are going somewhere no one will ever find you, and we will be together _forever_." says Gothel.

"No! I'll never go with you." Rapunzel shouts defiantly.

Gothel continues to stuff the pack, moving around the tower.

"They'll destroy you, like they did last time. They always destroy. Why do they always destroy? I nurtured you for centuries. They stole you, I had to get you back. I almost died, because they stole you." She puts her hands down on the table, holding herself up, looking down, panting, remembering how close death had come.

Gothel turned to Rapunzel, her face stricken. "I would have been happy if I could have had a piece that would have kept me alive, but it didn't work. I needed you, I had to take you back. I'm sorry."

"I love you. I took care of you, I nursed you. You can't leave me. I won't let them take you, not again. That was so horrible. I must have you. I need you." Gothel pleaded.

"Mother, please, don't do this!" begs Rapunzel from the floor in her chains.

"Enough, flower, we are leaving! You Must Be Kept Safe!" shouts Gothel, she pulls out a handkerchief and gags Rapunzel, just as they hear the sounds of hoofs in the canyon outside the tower.

Gothel grabs the knife off of the table. Rapunzel's eyes fill with fear.

…

"Rapunzel I thought I'd never see you again." said Eugene happily, seeing Rapunzel's gagged face. Wait, what?

"Meumee, moom, moum." screamed Rapunzel through her gag.

"Schlunk," answered the knife as it went into Eugene's belly.

Thud went Eugene as the pain took him.

"Now look what you've done, Rapunzel. Oh, don't worry, dear. Our secret will die with him." Gothel steps over the dying Eugene, the knife dripping in her hand. And moves to release the chains holding Rapunzel to the stairs.

Rapunzel fights to drag herself next to Eugene. Why couldn't he have fallen the other way onto my hair? she thinks desperately.

"And as for us. We are going where no one will ever find you again." dragging Rapunzel to the trapdoor.

Pascal charges out from the shadows to bite the hem of Gothel's dress, she notices him and kicks him across the room.

"Rapunzel, really!"

"Enough already!"

"Stop fighting me!"

"No, I won't stop! For every minute of the rest of my life, I will fight! I will never stop trying to get away from you! But if you let me save him, I will go with you." she begs, in chains, from the floor, at the feet of the woman she calls Mother.

"No! No, Rapunzel." grunts the dying Eugene from by the window.

"I'll never run. I'll never try to escape. Just let me heal him and you and I will be together, forever, just like you want. Everything will be the way it was. I promise. Just like you want. Just let me heal him." It was the most terrible promise ever, Rapunzel knows that her hair keeps Mother young, it will keep herself young, it really will be forever. But she has to save Eugene.

Gothel considers and accepts the promise, Rapunzel kneels docilely as commanded as Gothel removes the chains and waited impatiently as she chains Eugene to the stairs. "In case you get any ideas about following us."

He coughs as his his punctured lung is irritated by the imprisonment.

"Eugene!" cries Rapunzel racing to her true love. Stroking his hair and examining the wound. "I'm so sorry. Everything is going to be okay, though."

"No, Rapunzel." begs Eugene, he couldn't let her keep that promise. She never breaks her promises. And he didn't even know just how awful that promise was.

"I promise. You have to trust me. Come on. Just breathe." she begs him.

"I can't let you do this." he tries to resist her help.

"And I can't let you die." she says desperately.

"But if you do then you will die." he tries to explain to her. Gothel was killing everyone who knew about Rapunzel. She had to be next. There had to be something he could so to keep her from doing this. His strength was fading fast.

The guards had emptied his pockets, there was nothing on the floor.

He had no way to stop what was going to happen.

"Hey. It's going to be all right." she explains, gently wrapping her hair around her true love and begins to sing.

Her hair glows.

Eugene is healed.

Rapunzel gives him one last, first, only kiss, and her tears wet his cheeks.

Gothel commands, "Come Rapunzel."

"Yes, Mother." Rapunzel lowers her eyes and gets up and moves next to Gothel. She promised.

She has sold herself into eternal slavery for the life of her true love, who will now be able live out a normal life, and die, sometime in the distant past of her future and she'll never be able to join him even in death, because she promised.

And she's never going to meet her real parents, who send up the floating lights, because she promised.

Her soul is imploding within her, because she promised.

Eugene catches the hair that was on his belly in his hand and Rapunzel stops.

"Please, let me stay with her and you." Eugene begs.

Gothel grabs the hair and is pulling on it. "There is no way we can trust you."

"No, you can't, I'm a thief." Eugene concedes, the hair begins to slip through his grasp.

"Eugene." Rapunzel implores, she wants him to go away and be free. Knowing there was someone who loved her and was free would sustain her.

The hair stops in his grip. "Correction, Flynn Rider is a thief, but Eugene Fitzherbert isn't and he _can_ be trusted."

Gothel looks suspicious, "And who is Eugene Fitzherbert?"

"I am." says Eugene.

"Like that is supposed to make me feel better about you." Gothel continues to tug on the hair.

Eugene kneels, chain clanking, "On my love for Rapunzel, I, Eugene Fitzherbert, pledge myself to you, to be loyal and to do everything possible to protect you and Rapunzel forever, I promise. Just let me stay with her." It was an oath of a vassal to a queen.

Rapunzel closes her huge green eyes she doesn't want to lose him again, but having him like this would be worse. It would be nothing more then an exercise wheel for a hamster, something to keep her entertained and docile and somewhat content, because she promised and now so did he and her soul died some more.

Gothel is impressed with the oath, but still has doubts. "How can we trust you?"

"I have to earn your trust. I know that. I also know that the palace guard are going to be on my trail, which obviously leads here. I can lead them away, but in case it doesn't work you should leave the tower anyway, at least for a while. Do you know where Weathertop Hill is?"

"I do." Gothel answers, wondering why that might be important.

"In two days, I'll be on top of that mountain or dead. Meet me there and learn that you can trust me, I'll be on top so you can see me, but I won't be able to see you. Get out of here, but watch the entrance and watch me lead away the guards. I'll try to make sure no one finds the tower, but I can't promise I'll succeed, so hide."

Gothel can see they love each other, she never fell in love with anyone, but this she should be able to use. Using one against the other to keep them both in line.

Gothel was going to leave the tower so he could never find her, but there were downsides to that.

Her food forest was doing well so another mouth to feed would not be a problem. Abandoning that would be the most painful thing. It would mean buying food and more exposure, more chances to be found out and her flower taken from her again.

Gothel agrees.

Rapunzel stays with Gothel, obedient, because she promised. Her hair in the backbasket that Gothel gathered wood for the fire in. Gothel appreciated that as they hide in the bushes beyond the entrance.

Flynn and Max looked like they were setting up a camp when the guards came, Flynn jumped on Max and they raced away. Gothel and Rapunzel waited for the rest of the day, but no other guards came. They went to Weathertop Hill and slept under the stars and the hair. It was a beautiful night but Rapunzel couldn't see from the tears in her eyes. It wasn't going to be just like it was, the promise was too powerful.

They waited and then Eugene came. Gothel and Rapunzel circled the hill making sure he and Max were alone. Satisfied, they went up together to meet him, Gothel and Rapunzel. Rapunzel heeling Mother like a dog on a leach, but a leach far stronger then leather or metal, she had promised, and it was draining her soul.

"So?" asks Eugene.

"You kept your word so far. It is a start. Follow me." She set off away from the direction of the tower, but circled around so they came up from the mountains around it, it looked undisturbed.

"I still don't trust you yet." Gothel told Eugene.

"Very smart," Eugene said. "I did lead them away, they are floundering in the swamp"

They went around to the entrance and after looking around for tracks and finding no new ones they went back to the tower.

As they stood by the arched entrance to the tower Rapunzel looked around one last time and said, "Thank you, Mother."

Confused Gothel asks, "What for?"

"For this time Outside."

Gothel nods, things are going to be different now. But she held out her arms and said,

"I love you, very much." Gothel said gratefully.

"I love your more." came the empty reply.

"I love you most."

They go up the stairs, and try to figure out a way to make a new arrangement work.

And Eugene was right not her body, but Rapunzel's soul dies, because she promised, to be a slave and not a daughter.


	12. Rapunzel and the Menarche

Rapunzel and the Menarche

* * *

Twelve and a half year old Rapunzel was sitting in her her beautiful bed with the curved posts and she was terrified.

She was under her covers whispering the healing song, her hair glowing, trying to hide it from Mother. She was bleeding and hurting she didn't know why and her special gift wasn't fixing it.

She was scared because her hair always healed things before.

But what was worse was that Mother would Punish her if she hurt herself. Mother had many punishments, just yesterday she had had to sit quietly on her stool for an hour with her eyes closed in the middle of the room because she had talked back to Mother. She wasn't sure why she did that.

That had nearly driven her crazy. She could hear Mother moving around the tower, doing things, ordinary things probably, but it was so hard to keep her eyes closed and not ask what Mother was doing. She had looped her nearly 50 feet of hair into a pile by her feet. She didn't want Mother doing anything to her with her hair.

She was scared because the Punishment for hurting herself was terrible and it was worse then the bleeding.

Mother didn't punish her for most accidents, she let her heal herself without a problem or comment. But if she hurt herself on purpose the Punishment was so terrible.

She had put the kitchen knife through her arm. Mother had made a terrible face at that. She never wanted to see that face again. Mother had given her a new punishment she called lashes. She had used her leather belt on her bottom, back, feet and hands. It had hurt so much, she thought she was going to die. It had been so hard to see the clock at the end, she could only see a small bit of the clock, and it had been so hard to sing the healing song, panting it out. But it had worked, though she had screamed out the last few words, as the pain went away, it felt so good.

Rapunzel never forgot that Punishment and never wanted to go through Punishment again. While she did many things that Mother might consider daring and even risky, Rapunzel made sure to not do them when Mother was around.

She didn't hurt herself on purpose, but she wasn't sure if Mother would believe her. But Mother might know why her hair wasn't working.

But there was no choice but to go to Mother. She was already late getting out of bed, too, which would be punished as well. It's just getting worse and worse. She got out of bed and walked slowly down the stairs, her 50 feet of hair making more noise then her bare feet.

It was a hot late summer day and Mother was making a cold breakfast of fruit. Rapunzel stood before her, her large green eyes looking at the floor, worrying a strand of hair near her shoulder. "Mother, I think something is wrong with my hair, it isn't healing me like it should."

Gothel's eyes got very large, "What?" She rushed to the large standing mirror and looked in it. "Rapunzel, get ready to sing for me."

Rapunzel got Mother's red chair and her own stool and the brush and waited patiently.

Gothel had found a liver spot and a few grey hairs, and then she sat in her chair, Rapunzel shakily put a loop of hair in Mother's lap, gave her the brush and began to sing, her angelic voice marred by a slight frightened quaver. In moments Gothel was looking completely young again, who rushed back to the mirror to inspect the results.

Rapunzel's belly began to hurt again and she began rubbing it with one hand as she continued to hold the brush in the other. Gothel, after a few minutes of admiring her young self in the mirror, relieved that the magic, golden hair still worked on her, turned back to Rapunzel, and noticed Rapunzel rubbing her lower belly.

"You are still hurting, pet?"

"Yes, and bleeding, too."

"Bleeding? Where?" Gothel said with some alarm.

"From here." Rapunzel pointed to the place where her legs came together.

"And you didn't hurt yourself?"

"No." it was a plea.

Gothel put the back of her hand on Rapunzel's forehead, checking for a fever, but she was fine.

She looked hard at Rapunzel, more then she had in some time. Rapunzel was bigger, how quickly she was growing up.

Gothel cocked her head and added up the irritability, the pain and bleeding and came up with, a rueful smile.

Gothel put it all together in her head. Rapunzel was a woman now. Her period had started for the very first time.

She could twist this, use this against Rapunzel to punish her every month, make her even more malleable.

But she remembered what her own mother had done for her, oh so long ago. This was special, once-in-a-lifetime special. It had to be okay, just this once.

Gothel decided.

…

Rapunzel was getting worried, Mother was thinking for a long time and the emotions running around her face were odd. Was something terribly wrong with her? Was she broken? Would she die? or worse was she going to be Punished?

Finally, a great big smile lit up Mother's face, it was the biggest smile she'd ever seen on Mother.

"My flower, you are beginning to bud. You've taken the first step to becoming a woman. I'm so proud of you."

Rapunzel was confused as Mother picked her up and gave her the biggest hug ever. It felt so good, it had been two weeks and 3 days since their last hug and she drank it in as she put her own arms around Mother.

"Oh, I have to do something special for you. Oh, oh, I know hazelnut soup. and something else. Something? Yes, how about some fabric for a new dress. Now let's gather up all the candles we can so I can get you that fabric for a new dress. "

Mother was being enormously generous, this must be wonderful. "Could I have some red fabric. please?" Rapunzel had always wanted red, because Mother wore it most of the time, especially when she went Outside.

Gothel stopped, and looked serious, "I said you are beginning to bud, not in full flower, my dear." Rapunzel was worried again.

"You are not grown up yet, but you have taken a big step. How about a good pink, you know what pink is right." Gothel said with a slight smile.

"Red and white." Rapunzel said excitedly.

"You've still not ready to wear red or go outside, but you are closer now then you were and I am proud of you." Mother said gently with a smile.

Gothel crushed the question about going outside before it came, she didn't want to do that, but better to do it before her flower asked, she needed to be kept safe and protected and the tower did that so well. Rapunzel looked so hopeful but a little sad about the red fabric and not going outside.

Gothel ran her hand over Rapunzel's hair. Looking at the precious hair as it meandered around the room. Then she remembered something. She had something that she could use as a gift for this occasion that would make Rapunzel very happy.

"Oo. I just remembered, I have a gift for you that I can give your right now. Sit in your chair and close you eyes." Gothel said excitedly.

Rapunzel gave her a look, but dashed over to her chair and sat down primly and very deliberately closed her huge green eyes.

Gothel dove for her closet and rummaged around in it looking for a box. Ah, there it is. Then she went over to Rapunzel and dragged her chair next to her flower and put the box in her lap and said, "Tada. Open you eyes."

Young Rapunzel opened her eyes and looked at the box. She put her hands on it and looked at Mother.

"Go ahead, open it." Gothel said.

Rapunzel opened the box and looked inside. Her large eyes go all huge and her mouth made an O of astonishment. It was red ribbon.

"You might not be grownup enough for a red dress, but you are grown up enough for some red ribbon for your hair." Gothel said proudly.

Gothel had intended the red ribbon for her next dress, she hardly ever found the right shade of red ribbon to went best with her skin, but Rapunzel deserved it more. She had taken such a big step in her life.

They tied the hair every foot or so with the precious red ribbon. Then they gathered up the extra candles, knitting and a few other things Gothel could use to trade for fabric and they moved to the window.

"I love you, very much." said Gothel sitting on the edge of the window, waiting for Rapunzel to throw down her hair so she could climb down.

"I love you more." said Rapunzel with tears of joy in her green eyes and the red ribbons in her sunshine gold hair.

"I love you most. I am proud of you. This is going to be wonderful." Gothel finished their ritual of love with a warm smile

* * *

Author's Note: This one is for prince_zaire and her Wicked Witches series on DeviantArt.

Is it out of character for Gothel to do something nice for Rapunzel? I don't think so.

But what do you think?

Review please.


	13. How Gothel Retrieved Her Flower

How Gothel Retrieved Her Flower

Being an old women sometimes had its advantages. Few people noticed an old woman walking just about anywhere, especially if she was carrying a broom, sweeping the floors.

Gothel was looking for the Flower. She desperately needed her magic, golden Flower. She was aging and it was getting harder to move and function. Her body was breaking down. It was beginning to hurt a lot too.

There was far too much hubbub to try to get her Flower back. Not that it had been left as a Flower. It had been turned into a tea and drunk by the ill queen. That was understandable, that is how all other medicinal plants worked, but the Flower worked in other ways.

That the baby was born with sunshine golden hair was god sent news, she may be able to still have access to its power. She had thought the queen would be infused with the power, but the Flower sounded like it was in the hair of the baby. She wondered why as she waited for the sun to set so she could run her plan. But that made things easier.

Getting into the palace hadn't been all that hard. No one noticed a querulous old woman, and she even asked a few of questions of a gossipy maid. She'd just swept the yard and then walked inside and sweep the halls until she had found the royal nursery.

Maybe a piece of the hair would sustain her. She hoped it would, she had never dared harm the Flower, it was too precious. She really didn't want to take a child. Kidnapping was a terrible crime.

But they stole her Flower. They destroyed her Flower. She didn't think the power was gone, but maybe it was.

She had to know!

Later in the dead of night she snuck in over the balcony. It had been a terribly hard climb in her aged body.

And they had left the balcony door open, how nice of them.

She sang softly and lo, the babe's hair glowed just as the Flower had. She was becoming young again. She pulled out her scissors and snipped a piece off, but it turned brown and all her years came back.

She faced a terrible dilemma. Take the babe and live or leave and die. She had nurtured the Flower for centuries, but to take an innocent child...

They stole my Flower. My Precious Flower! Mine! I must live!

She grabs the child, who wakens and cries. The king and queen awake, and with a flourish of her cloak, Gothel vanishes over the railing of the balcony.

"Solara!" screams the Queen.

"Stop!" Commands the King. "Guards!"

Gothel leaps from the second story balcony, beginning the song even before hitting the ground.

She screams, as her legs break with loud snaps, when she hits the ground, curled protectively around her Flower. Sobbing out the rest of incantation, she is healed and young again.

She runs for the sally port she left unlocked earlier and had used to enter. The baby is still crying, but Gothel stuffs a finger in the baby's mouth and the baby soon quiets as she sucks contentedly.

Gothel ducks down several alleys, as guards run past to the bridge.

Gothel carries the baby in her arms, cradling her most precious Flower. She is heading to the harbor. She is trying to move fast, to stay ahead of the guards. She knew the bridge was the fastest escape route, but the most heavily guarded. She had arranged a rowboat earlier in the day.

At the harbor she encounters a palace guard.

"Halt, who goes there?" He's heard the alarm and was the first to the harbor, the second most likely place for someone trying to escape. He had his sword out.

"Just little old me," tries Gothel in a sweet innocent voice. Trying to cradle the baby nonchalantly in her arms in front of her. She knows she doesn't have long before more guards arrive and seal the harbor. A simple bluff often works.

The baby begins to cry.

The moon comes out from behind the clouds revealing the long, shiny blonde hair of the baby.

"You're under arrest." shouts the guard moving closer, holding the tip of his sword in front of Gothel's belly. There was only one baby with hair that long and shiny in the kingdom, the Princess Solara. This woman must be trying to kidnap the princess.

Gothel freezes.

She has to keep her Flower, there was no other option. She would die without her Flower, she would do anything to keep her Flower. A desperate plan comes to mind.

In a fluid series of motions, she shifts the baby to her hip, and pulls out her scissors, trying to deflect the blade and lunging forward.

Even in her young state she isn't strong enough to do more then move it slightly to one side, the guard is too powerful, but it is the side away from her precious Flower. That is enough for her for now.

She continues to move forward impaling herself on the sword.

The guard looks shocked. No one throws themselves on a sword like that.

Screaming, as she feels the sword slide out the back of her body, she takes another step and is close enough. She plunges the scissors into the eye of the guard, who is too shocked to try to block her or even cry out before he dies.

They collapse in a heap.

Gothel rolls away from the guard, and with a scream pulls the sword from her own body. Shifting the crying baby to her belly, she holds the precious hair to her injury and weakly pants the incantation, finishing it strong and young again. She wrenches the scissors from the brain of the palace guard and adds his dagger to her booty, she needed more then scissors to protect herself, but the sword was too big.

Hearing heavy boots on the cobblestones Gothel quickly runs to the dock and the boat she had chosen earlier and dives onto it, paddling away as they find the body of the guard she killed. A cloud covers the moon, a fog forms and she disappears into the night.

The baby is asleep again so she covers her Flower with her cloak and rows down the shore in her darkened rowboat. Reaching shore she pushes the boat off and starts inland. She can't go home, she needs to find a new place to live, a hidden place to care for her Flower.

Trudging over the broken ground. Some place she can protect her precious Flower forever, and keep it safe from those who took it and destroyed it once already. She gently smoothed the hair of her Flower.

She sets off into the forest. Hoping to find some place safe enough for her Flower to thrive in.

So what was going through Gothel's mind as she stole the baby whose hair was infused with the wondrous power of the Flower?

Besides you can go all kinds of badass when you can carry healing magic like she is. That was sort of fun.

She comes of as fearsome when she goes nut like that.


	14. Rapunzel and the Birthday Cake

"So what were your birthdays like in the tower?" Asked Eugene as he watched the newly reunited royal family hug on the sofa. They were hugging a lot. It was a good way to say I love you without using the words, and it was something to do after dinner.

"Usually, not much different from other days, expect for the floating lights. They were the highlight and late enough so that Mother would be asleep. But she usually did something nice for me, even if she did downplay it. Hazelnut soup for dinner, that she would make herself, I cooked most of the time. A new brush for my hair or paints. Sometimes fabric for a new dress." Rapunzel replied, she kept calling Mother, well, Mother, since they didn't have any other name for her yet, but she could tell it bothered Mama.

"Hazelnut soup… What about a cake, did she make a birthday cake for you, too?" Asked the queen.

"Birthday cake?" asked Rapunzel, feeling dumb, again. Her cookbook had recipes for cake, but she'd never heard of a birthday cake before.

"We did get some of the birthday cupcakes you had handed out for the celebration," chimed in Eugene. He was an orphan, but even he knew about birthday cakes, even if they had to share with all the others that had a birthday that month.

"You never had a birthday cake?" Asked the king in his deep rich voice.

"No, what's a birthday cake?" asked Rapunzel in a small embarrassed voice.

The queen, her face filled with joy, looked over to Margaret the maid, who went up on her toes in excitement, "Have the kitchen make a birthday cake, right away."

In a twirl of black and white, and a clatter of shoes, Margaret took off running down the corridor.

"My dear, a birthday cake is a special cake made for you on your birthday, and it comes with candles and you share it with family and friends. And you must have a birthday cake even if it is a little late." The queen smiled. The Kidnapper had taken so many things from their family, but somehow she had left this one special little thing just for them.

"Don't forget presents," said Eugene.

The king laughed, "Oh, there are plenty of presents, we'll have to show you the storerooms full of presents the people have given us for you over the years."

"Well, the cake will take a while, so let's go down and take a look right now," said the queen.

When they opened the first one Rapunzel was intimidated by the sheer amount of presents, how could she be a good princess, there was no room for hardly any of this stuff in her room, and after poking around for a little while, she had no idea what to do with almost all of the things she had found either. Almost all of it was pretty, but you couldn't do anything with it, that she could tell.

Then they looked in the other four rooms.

"Mama, I'm so dumb, I don't understand any of this. Please. Help me." Rapunzel was shaking, trying not to cry. She wanted to be a good princess, but this didn't make any sense to her at all. Clothes that were much too small, obviously made for a child. Painting, which were nice, but she liked hers more because they meant so much to her. The snow globes were pretty, but what could you do with them at all.

"It's okay, dear. People are just trying to be nice and give you things you might like but they couldn't know what you liked. We saved all this for you so you could see the … sunshine …they have for you." The queen used an alternate word for the love the people had for their lost princess.

"Okay," Rapunzel said slowly, "But what can I do with all of this, there is nowhere to put it all in my room."

"True enough, we should send thank you notes back to tell them you appreciated getting the gifts, but yes we need to do something with all of these things."

"Maybe we should have a yard sale," said Eugene, his Flynn Rider side had totaled up the value of the items and it was pretty impressive.

…

The royal family and Eugene came back to the family dining room once they were told the cake was ready.

The kitchen staff had almost lost it, when they learned that their princess had never had a birthday cake. There wasn't a need or time, it was getting late, to make a big, fancy cake. It really was just for the four of them, but they wanted to make it fast and good. So they had to keep it simple.

Everyone wanted to help; the head chef ended up having to stand in front of the oven to make sure the cakes weren't disturbed, while the pastry chef and her assistant went crazy making roses and frosting. He did get the staff to help cool the cakes by taking them outside and fanning them to cool them quickly. It was a bit odd to see 20 people waving sheet pans at a small table in the garden.

The pastry chef had grilled Margaret, not like that! She asked Margaret questions, about the princess: her favorite colors, foods and things like that. They didn't have much to go on, except she used to have golden blonde hair, and a lavender dress she came in and she liked hazelnut soup.

There was a small, okay, not so small, panic trying to find the candles, they never did figure out what happened to the spoons. But the cake was tasty and ready to be served in record time. It was a butter cake, with some ganache to hold the layers together and a white frosting with yellow and lavender roses.

The kitchen staff waited anxiously as Margaret carefully took the cake to the princess.

…

"Now you blow out the candles and make a wish," said the queen, excitedly, as the king and Eugene looked embarrassed about how badly they had sung together.

Rapunzel looked at the candles as they burned, thinking about what to wish for. "What more could I wish for, I am back with my real parents and I have my true love. Right now, what more is there that I need?" She thought. Well, there was one thing.

She screwed her eyes shut and blew really hard.

* * *

Author's Note: A special someone had a birthday recently. So I wrote this.


	15. 15 The Next Adventure

~ The Next Adventure

* * *

"What's it like?" Asked Queen Rapunzel of her true love; who is sitting in the chair next to the bed, as she lies in their bed, the soft sheets outlining her frail body.

King Eugene knew what his beloved wife was speaking of. She had never asked before, but he knew why she asked now. He leaned over and kissed her brow, moving some of the unchanging short brown hair out of the way. Her small wrinkled hand in his shaking one; it felt so cold.

It had been over 60 years since he had died the first time, but it still felt like it had happened this morning.

"It doesn't hurt." He assured her, looking deep into those green eyes, the laugh lines so deep and clear around them. "But it does feel scary, you feel things come unraveled inside you, that never have before."

She nodded, she was feeling things inside her, she had never felt before.

"You'll be in a dark tunnel, and there's a light at the end. The light is an open space, like being on a ship way out on the ocean."

Queen Rapunzel smiled, she liked the ocean. She looked over to the window and could see it through the balcony from where she lay on the royal bed.

"There, you will meet someone, someone who loves you most, and he'll ask you a question." He looked off into the distance remembering, not seeing the family and friends painted on the walls of their bedroom, so many had passed on already.

"What question?"

"I don't know if it's the same for everyone, but he asked me why I did that."

Queen Rapunzel didn't have to ask what that was. Eugene had cut her hair, setting her free from Mother. He had loved her so much that he had died for her, so she could be free.

"Thank you, for doing that. For loving me most."

"My pleasure, Queenie," says the old thief with a broad smile.

Then the smile fades and the anxious husband asks a question that had dogged him all these decades, "Did I make right choice?"

She knew what her true love was asking about. Was it the right thing to cut her hair?

Queen Rapunzel gave her husband a tired, but happy smile. They had come home to the kingdom. She had had to work through so much pain from what Mother had done to her, but she had become a great princess and eventually, queen.

Eugene had also had to overcome his own past as Flynn Rider, so he could become a good king.

Was it happily ever after like the story books said?

Maybe not, but they loved each other and had worked to keep the love going, through miscarriages and children, adventures and wars. There had been arguments and forgiveness, pain and healing, mistakes and success. They were happy some of the time, and last of all they were happy right now; maybe that counted.

It did to her.

"Yes, yes it was. I spent one good lifetime with you, and that is worth many lifetimes locked in a tower," she said with a smile.

A smile spread upon the wizened face of her true love.

"There's someone to meet you," said the grey-haired husband to his beloved wife as the maid came in and gave the king a nod.

"Oh, who?" asked the wife of her beloved husband, all the family had come today, and he gestured to the maid, who opened the doors.

"The newest member of the family," he smiled, as their granddaughter Agatha brought in the fruit of her labors, supported by her loving husband.

"Oh, aren't you the cutest little one," said the great-grandmother to the newest addition to the family as her mother laid her in loving arms.

"This is Solara Rapunzel, Grammy," Said Princess Agatha. Little Princess Solara was sleeping, swaddled nice and warmly; a few curls of dark brown hair peeked out.

The husband subtly helped his wife hold the baby. Queen Rapunzel said slightly regretfully, "I think someone else is going to have to paint you onto the walls."

"Don't worry, Grammy. I'll take care of that," said Agatha, tucking some of her sweat-soaked, long brown hair behind her ear, her large green eyes bright, sitting on the bed. And she would too, once her legs stopped shaking so much. She knew Grammy Rapunzel wasn't going to stay much longer and had pushed as hard as she could, so her daughter could meet her great-grandmother before she left.

"Thank you. I knew you would, you've such a good, conscientious girl," and the grand-daughter beamed. Grammy was so good about compliments, they felt so good from her.

"We love you so much," said grand-daughter, speaking for her family, and so many others.

After a few minutes the mother took up the great-granddaughter and left the royal bedroom, with tears in her eyes. Going back with her husband to the rest of the waiting family. They had had time with Grammy Rapunzel this morning, and now it was time for Grampa Eugene to be with her.

"I love you so much."

"I love you more."

"I love you most."

"I know you do and so do I."

Queen Rapunzel smiled one last time, and got a kiss from her beloved husband, as her eyes closed.

"Enjoy the next adventure. I'll be there too, soon, I think."

* * *

Author's Note: What happened after the happily ever after? The rest of their lives, with all the ups and downs of a typical life. But here at the end they could say if it was was or not.

How do you feel?

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	16. A very special day

"Now, Rapunzel dear. Today is a very special day," said Queen Rebecca as she and Princess Rapunzel sat in the royal box overlooking the stage in the kingdom's theater.

Rapunzel was looking over the crowd in the theater. Pascal climbing to the top of her head for a better look. There was an excited buzz that was so contagious. Many people seemed to be dressed especially for the occasion, though the clothes were so very odd. Some dressing in all white, many in desert clothes which she had seen described in some books Eugene had snuck into her bed. A few in white and blue, often next to someone in what looked to be gold.

Rapunzel had no idea how a play looked, though she had read several, this was the first (another first with her real mama and papa) she would see performed with sets and costumes and actors. It would be like looking into some else's imagination.

"We are celebrating one of the great storytellers of our age, and you've seen how important supporting the arts is to us."

Rapunzel nodded. Art was something she loved and so did her parents, it was one of the things that had kept them all sane while they were apart.

Eugene carefully set down a hogshead of popcorn, "Anyone else want some popcorn."

"No thanks, I'll just snack on some of yours."

Eugene gave Rapunzel a long look and said, "I'll be right back."

The king came in carrying an armful of drinks for everyone. He had dismissed the servants to enjoy the holiday.

"Thank you, dear."

"Thanks, papa."

Eugene came back with a bushel of popcorn for everyone else.

Just then a short, greying, bespectacled man in plaid came out onto the stage and as he looked out over the crowd, all became quiet.

Eugene bounced up and down in his seat excitedly.

The curtain began to open revealing a black background speckled with glittering gems like the night sky.

The man took a breathe and began to declaim:

"A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..."

Author's Note: Happy Star Wars Day!


	17. Bad Gothel

Flynn Rider slammed the shutters closed, finally safe from that stupid (okay, not so stupid) horse.

"Alone at last." Flynn said as he opened the satchel and pulled out the crown. He moved to a tall thin window and held it in the light, the jewels sparkling in the light. The three huge jewels that were most prominent on the crown were amazing. He found himself counting and categorizing all the lesser jewels that encrusted the crown as well.

He had a buyer all ready and after ditching the Stabbington brothers he was going to take their cuts as well, more then enough for his island.

Soon enough though the crown and the excitement wore off and he looked around. The room was plain, there were a couple of chairs, a closet (he'd want to check that out for valuables), a spinning wheel, a neat little kitchen (he'd rummage through that he was beginning to get hungry), a hole in the floor (he mentally kicked himself for not walking around the tower there must be stairs and an entrance on the back side) and yards and yards what what looked to be dirty blonde hair leading under a door under the stairs.

Flynn wandered over and gave some a tug. There as a gasp, a clank of chain and then a sweet angelic voice began to sing. He dropped the hair as it began to glow but tripped and landed on more, and found himself feeling a lot better.

The glow faded and now he was curious. He opened the door and found a girl, with chains on her wrists, huddled in the corner whimpering. She was pulling the hair around her trying to hide in it.

"It's okay, I won't hurt you." He crouched and held out his hand but she whimpered and scrambled to a different corner, upsetting a small bucket that smelled of urine.

His heart was going out to this poor child. She looked so tiny and skinny, 12-14 years-old maybe. There had been a few children in the orphanage that had been taken from their parents who had been hurting them. A coal of anger began to glow in his belly, but first he knew he had to gain her trust a little so he could get her out of here. No one deserved this kind of life, no one!

Then he heard echoing steps from the hole in the floor. He closed the door, covered his month with a finger, she nodded and dove under the girl's bed.

Soon the door creaked open again and he could see the hem of a red dress and some leather shoes walk over to the spill.

The shoes turned toward the corner of the mass of hair.

"You are a bad girl, a messy, disgusting girl. Why do I even bother taking care of you? Get over here and clean it up!"

Flynn felt his stomach clench as the girl scrambled over and began to lick up the urine from the floor. His anger was building. How dare that mother hurt her own child this way! But he didn't know if there was a father around here somewhere, he needed to be careful. He might want to pick up the bed and slam it down on the mother but she could get the drop on him before he got out and then he wouldn't be able to get the girl out of here.

He had to wait just a little while and then he'd be able to get her out of here and sneak her into the orphanage, the headmistress had a heart as big as the kingdom and had been able to help some very hurt children, but they always had problems ever after.

"Just to make sure you don't do a bad thing again you are to get a punishment."

The girl was whimpering and moaning in fear. The mother was standing in front of the bed blocking him in and he could see the girl prostrate herself in front of the mother, those huge green eyes full of fear looking right at him.

There was the sound of the leather belt coming down, the smack of it against the girls bottom and a scream. "I'm a bad girl, one."

Flynn had thought the mother would stop at 25 which was the law in the kingdom, but she kept going. He was praying she would stop at 40 which was the tradition from the Bible, but she just kept going. He was weeping as they past 100, but he couldn't avert his eyes as the girl just kept looking at him, holding him with her eyes.

He was weak with relief when they reached 500 and stopped. He'd been lashed a few times but now he was wondering how this scrap of a girl could survive this. He'd been in other kingdoms that actually killed people by lashing at that was often near 200.

"Sing!"

The girl began to sing, and the hair glowed and he could see her body heal before his eyes.

"Very good, you took your punishment well. Good girl." The happiness in the girl's face ripped his heart out of his chest. It was so utterly twisted and wrong.

"It's your 18th birthday tomorrow, and for taking your punishment so well I think I'll give you something nice, how about some hazelnut soup, your favorite?" The girl nodded and crawled up to the mother and stroked her like a cat.

Eugene knew what hazelnut soup was, he had eaten enough of it himself. The poorest of the poor eat that because there was nothing else but dirt to eat. What did this mother feed her child that made hazelnut soup a treat? She was 18! She looked 14 tops. How could a mother do that to her own child, twisting even the body of her child like that?

Burning hate was trying to consume him, but he knew he had to get the girl to safety first, no other consideration outweighed that. He deal with the mother personally later. Soon they heard the mother climb down the ladder and clatter down the steps.

He cautiously crawled out from under the bed.

"Would you like to leave?"

She looked at him puzzled.

"I can take you away from here."

She didn't understand.

"If you come with me, there will be no more punishments," he gestured.

That got her attention. She held out her wrists with the shackles on them.

"I can get you out of them." Flynn said confidently. They sat on the bed and he opened the satchel and put the crown to one side as he dug around for his lock picks.

The girl was looking at the crown and gingerly picked it up. Eugene was just about to take one of her hands to start working on the lock when she plopped the crown lopsidedly on her head and gave a babyish giggle.

Flynn's mouth dropped open.

"Solara?"

The girl looked at him in wide-eyed wonder, then giggled again.

He knew exactly who this girl was. 18 years old, blonde hair, green eyes. How often had he stared at the mosaic in the square?

She was the Lost Princess.

He had found the Lost Princess, one of his childhood dreams.

He would take her to the palace, he had no choice, praying the guards didn't kill him before he could tell them who she was.

Tears filled his eyes, because he knew that she would never be normal, and could never be the princess she had been born to be.

* * *

Author's Note: A little Memorial Day bonus. I was considering what Rapunzel might turn out like, if Gothel had treated Rapunzel as badly as some of the other Disney Villains might have: like Lady Tremaine, or Frollo (without the archdeacon to lighten things). I'm sorry Rapunzel didn't turn out so well as in the movie.


	18. Bad Gothel 2

Flynn was trudging though the dark forest of the night. He couldn't stop. Something inside him pushed him to keep going. A lost child needed to be with her parents again. She had to be returned home. Nothing else mattered to him anymore.

He was carrying her now, she had fallen asleep long ago. He had kept going, it scared him deeply how light she was. The cloak she was wearing was the heaviest thing on her.

How many times can his heart be broken? After he got the shackles off of her he noticed that she wasn't even wearing any clothes. It had taken so long to get her into clothes, he was better at getting girls out of their clothes then into them. His emotions had churned during that too. Why did the kidnapper treat the princess like an animal?

It had taken so long to coax her out of the tower and he had been scared of the kidnapper coming back. She had been afraid of the light and the grass. The water of the stream fascinated her as she splashed in it. She had run with him out of the canyon. But had tired quickly. Simple things like leaves and flowers captured her attention. He had had to coax her along sometimes with a new plant to look at.

By the time it got dark she was asleep and so he carried her, he was scared of not offering her something to eat but the Snuggly Duckling was no place for her.

What was worse then the lack of clothes, how did it keep getting worse? Was how skeletally thin she was. Bad enough he could easily see her bones, but the outlines of her organs and veins against her skin.

So he carried her, the palace would have all kinds of food. She had to be able to live that long. She had too. He could not stop.

After ages he was on the road near the island. He could see the torches at the end of the bridge. And then men moving.

"Help! Please, help us!" Flynn Rider called. He saw more movement of men.

"Help us. I found the Lost Princess. Please, she needs help. She's in bad shape." He was begging, tears running down his cheeks. Torches are running toward them. The guards stop as they see them.

"I know, I'm Flynn Rider, I have the crown here in my satchel, I surrender myself, but that doesn't matter, we need to help the princess. Please." he begged, willing to offer them anything to get them to help her.

The princess woke up to his shouts and everything was scaring her and she threw herself around his neck, holding on for dear life.

"Please, she needs a doctor, and the headmistress of the orphanage, and her parents, and food, and please, please, take us to the palace, please." Flynn begged.

The guards looked at each other, they had orders to bring in all claiming to be the Lost Princess but this was Flynn Rider, yet he was begging for help like a hurt child.

A Sergeant arrived.

"Please, sir. I know you want me, take me if you want but we need to get her to a doctor, look at her feet."

The guards look and they see her feet sticking out, the bones are easily seen in the torchlight and the toes look really long as the skin is drawn up for far. The sergeant gasped they looked more like his grandmother's hands then anything else.

The sergeant sends a runner ahead and has half his men surround Flynn Rider, just in case this was some bizarre trick, though one of the men ended up carrying the hair to make the going easier.

They found the seneschal, the Captain of the Guard, and many guards, the royal doctor and even the headmistress of the orphanage in the testing chamber.

"Eugene, you've been a bad boy." said the headmistress, matter-of-factly. And the princess whimpered at the word 'bad.'

"I know, I'm sorry about that, but I'm not anymore." said Flynn looking down at the princess. "Please, she needs help." Eugene wanted to hand the princess off to the headmistress but she wouldn't let go. They move to sofa and he holds her in his lap, and the princess whimpers and moans in fear as they begin to evaluate her.

"It's okay dear, we're trying to help you. It's okay." the headmistress says in gentle comforting tones. Eugene feels her death grip on him loosen a little.

The doctor turns toward the guards, "You better wait outside, this might get rather personal for her soon."

The Captain frowned at Flynn Rider. "The kidnapper lives in a tower that is hidden in a canyon behind a wall of vines." Eugene sketched out where the tower was, and the Captain sent men to investigate, but left the princess alone.

The doctor and the headmistress keep trading looks and quiet comments.

"How is she still alive?" asks Eugene. "She had to lick up her own urine and then was lashed 500 times, but she sang and her hair glowed and she was like this again."

They trade long looks.

"It sounds like some kind of magical effect, the flower her mother ingested had healing properties. She must have inherited something from that." said the royal doctor.

"Can we give her something to eat, please. I have no idea when the last time she ate was, and I'm scared she might not last much longer." The princess is nodding off to sleep again.

They nod and the headmistress said, "Broth, She needs warm broth. Children this bad off... Well, I've never seen anyone this far gone and still alive, but they could only handle broth. It'll take time to build her up to solid food safely."

The doctor gives quiet orders to the maid who runs off.

The seneschal comes in, gets some scissors and sits next to them. "Normally I would ask questions, but under the circumstances it is best to get right to the heart of the test." He picks up an end of the hair and snips off some. The cut off piece turns brown as does a long strand up to the sleeping princess's head. Everyone is looking back and forth, but the seneschal is biting his lip, trying to hold back the tears.

"She is the Lost Princess, the Princess Solara." but there is no joy in his voice, just the sound of tears. How could he explain this to the royals?

Flynn gave them a quiet rundown of everything he knew about the kidnapper, he had gotten a look at her profile as she climbed down the ladder, and the princess. It didn't take long because he just didn't know all that much. The headmistress and doctor gave a general overview of her condition.

The seneschal left to tell the royal couple. Soon he is escorting them in.

The queen is looking so scared to Eugene, but he nods and encourages them to come over. The princess is asleep on his shoulder as he cradles her gently.

Tears fill there eyes as they see the deeply sunken cheeks, the hard outline of her bones under her thin skin.

The queen falls to her knees before them. "Oh my baby, my poor baby, I'm so sorry." she weeps.

The princess rouses from hearing the weeping and turns and looks at her mother.

"My dear Solara, You're home again. You're home. We'll keep you safe."

"Ma-ma?"

"Yes, mama. I'm your mama." A smile blooms through the tears.

The lost princess turns and puts her forehead to her mama's and with a giggle, puts her arms around her mama and holds on tight. With great wracking sobs the queen holds her baby again with her whole soul.

"So, Flynn Rider brings my little girl home." says the king.

"Not anymore. My real name is Eugene Fitzherbert." Eugene takes off the satchel and hands it to the king, "This is yours. I'm sorry for taking it."

"If stealing the crown let you find our daughter, I can forgive that. What happened?"

Eugene tells the story as the maid comes in with a tray.

The maid hands the princess, sitting on her mama's lap, a tea cup of broth, who just holds it, with a puzzled expression. She was fed only rarely, though she did get water to drink. Gothel knew the hair would keep her alive, so why waste perfectly good food on her.

The headmistress, with a very gentle look on her face took the cup, held it in her hands and showed the princess how to take a sip, smiling and making appreciative sounds, then handed it back. The princess took a sip of the rich, protein laden liquid. Her eyes went wide as her tastebuds screamed in need for it and slammed the whole thing into her mouth and swallowing.

After licking the cup and her fingers that had picked up the spills on the sides of her mouth, she shyly looked at the headmistress, who asked gently, "more?" holding out her hand.

"more." Solara said, tentatively holding out the cup. The headmistress took the cup and handed it back to the maid, though the doctor warned, "Slowly, we don't want to make her sick by feeding her too quickly."

So everyone took their time refilling the cup and handing it back to the princess who slurped it down quickly and asked "more?"

Then the guards brought in the prisoner. The kidnapper was strictly shackled, heavy chains went from collar to wrists to waist to ankles. A gag was wedged in her mouth.

The princess whimpered and moaned in fear and climbed onto Eugene for safety. Eugene nodded and said, "That's the kidnapper."

Gothel would have sneered at them, but her contempt was clear. They did not know the secret of the flower, they would gain no advantage from having their child back.

The king nodded and ordered, "Have her secured." and the kidnapper was removed from the room to the prison.

The queen and the headmistress and Eugene were soon able to calm Solara. Who soon had so many cups of broth her stomach was distended. The doctor told the maid to get more but to take her time and have the kitchen make quite a bit for the princess.

"I'm not surprised she's scared of her. She gave her a terrible lashing, but I don't understand, how she survived it, much less how her singing could do anything about it."

At the word sing, Solara began to sing her special song, one of the only good things she had ever heard from her captor. Everyone stared at her in wonder at the glowing hair, and then as the gray left the queen's hair, and the pain left the headmistress' knees and back, the cuts on the doctor's fingers healed and wonder of wonders the princess herself began to fill out. The hair had been keeping Solara alive by sheer dint of magic, but since she went weeks and months between feedings there were limits on what it could do, but finally with access to protein and other molecular building blocks it could finally start doing more.

"The healing power of the flower is still in her and it is activated by that song," said the now much younger looking doctor in an awed voice. The doctor jumped up and ran to the kitchen to override his previous orders. They needed as much broth laced with honey as they could get as soon as possible.

They let the princess drink as much as she could and then asked her to sing.

By the time the sun was rising the princess was looking like a normal 18 year old girl. She was even beginning to speak in complete sentences. Her mind was strong and flexible, and with sufficient energy resources it could finally work. She may have been kept in a dark bedroom her entire life, but she was making huge strides in just hours. The headmistress had never seen anyone make strides like this before. The hair could keep her alive and functional but her body had just not been able to work properly without the needed inputs of nutrition.

Gothel was taken to the prison, heavily guarded. She was not the old woman described by the king and queen, so she was a witch. After taking her from the royals, they took the simple expedient of knocking her out from behind by surprise so she couldn't put a spell on them. There were special instructions for dealing with the Kidnapper of the Lost Princess.

Gothel woke up as they were finishing the final bindings. She found she couldn't move, heavy iron bands secured her chest, waist and hips, more iron bands held each limb and joint, even her fingers and toes were secured. The iron felt warm, she had been unconscious for some time. She was not blindfolded nor did she feel any thing around her neck, not that it mattered, the gag was secured to the large wooden table she was secured too as was the band across her forehead.

She was flattered they were treating her as if she was Maleficent herself. She wasn't much of a witch, she could conjure fog and a light breeze, strong enough to blow out candles and not much more, and a few other little things like that. She was gratified to see Conli blanch as she laughed through her gag.

"She's awake, sir," he called.

"Good. Time for the trial." 6 men picked her up and carried her out of the prison.

The trial was perfunctory, but there was at least a show of fairness. They had a merchant from another kingdom act as judge since the king and all the local judges had to recuse themselves.

She had laughed often at those pathetic wanted posters of her in her aged form.

Flynn Rider and others brought testimony against her. She did not bother denying what she had done or even justifying it, since they had stole her flower. She did not see the girl, though they explained she was in protective custody. Gothel considered she had her revenge, the child would never recover and the royals would never be happy again.

She certainly felt fear then they threw her over the plaza balcony. But she was left hanging just above the ground. She could see the people of the kingdom, all who were watching quietly. It was a little unnerving how quiet it was. She was expecting something else, but wasn't sure what. It was hard to think as all the blood rushed into her head. After a while her toes began to tingle a little as her heart worked to push blood to them.

Then the queen came into view she was dressed all in white and had her crown on. The queen bent slightly and looked right into Gothel's eyes and quietly said, "I am Queen Rebecca. You stole my baby. I am going to drink your blood." Gothel felt the base of her spine quiver as those huge green eyes bore hate into her soul. The queen pulled out a small knife and Gothel felt the cut, but it wasn't very big. She then felt the queens lips on her neck and the sucking. After a while the queen stopped to breathe, she felt fingers on her throat and the queen said again, "I am Queen Rebecca. You stole my baby. I am going to drink your blood." The fear grew in her belly. The queen began to drink again, and the crowd quietly began to chant "die, die, die, die" that matched the thudding of Gothel's heart.

Gothel didn't want to look into those hate filled eyes anymore, but there was no where else to look. She couldn't feel her fingers and toes any more. She was getting cold in the warm sun. The queen was really going to do it. Tears finally came to Gothel's eyes as she felt Death's hands on her hips, pulling her close. But the queen did not stop until every last drop was gone from the body of the kidnapper. Which was taken down and burned and the ashes scattered.

While the princess' body made huge strides as did her mind, there were some terrible snakes in her soul. The wrong look or word would send her into a corner shivering and whimpering and hiding in her hair.

But there were good times too. Playing in the garden with her parents and Eugene. After a few weeks they took her for a walk around the kingdom and everything went fine. She even made friends with some little girls who loved to braid hair. They helped the princess so much, they would take lessons together and the friendship built, they were good to talk to, and became like sisters to the princess.

With the enormous love of her parents, Eugene and the others the princess thrived. While the princess could never rule, the issues of the snakes were too great. But Eugene and the princess married and she became a mother, and was a good mother, and their eldest was good and wise ruler.

There were good days and bad. They loved each other and they were a happy family.

* * *

Author's Note: The story won't let me alone until I got the lost princess a happy ending. And one of my readers really wanted this evil gothel dead. It's not as happy as it was in the movie, but happy enough I hope.


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